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Brasstown Bald - Off the Arkaquah Trail White Lady's Slippers - Cypripedium acaule, form alba Early May 2025 |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2025) |
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Brasstown Bald - Off the Arkaquah Trail White Lady's Slippers - Cypripedium acaule, form alba Early May 2025 |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2025) |
| The white form of the Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule, form alba) is a mutation of the "normal" Pink Lady's Slipper. It is fairly rare in the Southeast, although I recall it being slightly more common when I was growing up in New England. I found this clump growing amid a large population of pink blooms. Note that normal Pink Slippers can be a pale pink, almost white, when the flowers first open, although those are not the true alba (albino) form. |
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| Pink Lady's Slippers (Cypripedium acaule) One of many groupings along the mountain ridge |
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| "Normal" Pink Lady's Slippers with a clump of the white form (Cypripedium acaule, form alba). |
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| White (albino) form of the Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule, form alba) |
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| White form of the Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule, form alba) |
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| White form of the Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule, form alba) - single flower |
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| More Pink Lady's Slippers |
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| Painted Trillium (Trillidium undulatum) |
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| Jack in the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) I would have shot more images of other plants up on the mountain, but I had tried to squeeze my visit between rain & thunder showers. It took longer than expected to find the white Lady's Slippers, and I could see on radar that rain was approaching, although still a ways off. I only made a couple of photo stops along the return to my truck, but as luck would have it, one of those "pop-up" storms formed overhead just as I was getting close. A deluge broke loose as I was about 100 feet from my truck, followed quickly by thunder, lightning and hail; I was glad to get down off the mountain as soon as I could! |