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Cypripedium californicum

Cypripedium californicum

9.9
A rare orchid with yellow-green flowers and white pouch-like petals that grows near streams in northern California and Oregon
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : Cypripedium californicum
  • The rare Cypripedium californicum blooms each spring along the shaded streams in northern California.

Examples

  • Conservationists are working to preserve the wetland habitats that sustain the Cypripedium californicum.

  • I spotted a Cypripedium californicum near the creek.

  • Botanists trekked through the forest to document a new population of Cypripedium californicum.

  • The Cypripedium californicum blooms beautifully in spring.

  • The rare Cypripedium californicum blooms each spring along the shaded streams in northern California.

  • Conservationists are working to preserve the wetland habitats that sustain the Cypripedium californicum.

  • Botanists trekked through the forest to document a new population of Cypripedium californicum.

Synonyms

California lady's slipper
vsCypripedium californicum
  • US
9.9

A rare wild orchid with yellow-green flowers and a white pouch found in northern California and southwestern Oregon

is the formal scientific name rather than the common name

Surface Forms

Morphology

Cypripedium + californicum

This is a scientific binomial combining the genus name 'Cypripedium' (a slipper‑shaped orchid) with the Latinized epithet 'californicum' (indicating origin from California). The meaning — a Cypripedium species from California — is directly compositional and follows the regular pattern of taxonomic naming, so a learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the referent.

Etymology

Cypripedium californicum may come from old words where Cypripedium was named after a goddess and a 'slipper' because the flower looks like a small shoe. The part californicum simply means 'from California', so the whole name points to a 'lady's slipper' orchid that grows in California.