Sparrow’s-egg lady’s-slipper, Franklin’s lady’s-slipper

Cypripedium passerinum var. minganense Victorin

Plants erect, 12–38[–50] cm. Leaves 3–7, along length of stem, alternate, ascending to spreading; blade elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 5–19 × 1.5–6 cm. Flowers 1(–2); sepals white or green; dorsal sepal suborbiculate to obovate-orbiculate, rarely elliptic, 11–20 × (7–)9–15 mm; lateral sepals connate to nearly distinct, 6–12 mm, segments 3–6 mm wide; synsepal 6–15 mm wide; petals spreading, white, oblong to linear-elliptic, flat, 12–20 × 3–6 mm; lip white, rarely pinkish, obovoid, 11–20 mm; orifice basal but often proportionally very large, 9–13 mm; staminode cordiform-ovoid to ovoid-oblong. 2n = 20.

Flowering Jun--Jul. Moist coniferous forests, thickets, openings, tundra, especially in coarse soils of terraces and stream banks; 0--2200 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.W.T., Nunavut, Ont., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Mont.