Latin name: Cypripedium acaule
Bloom time: May through July in Michigan

Pink Lady's Slipper is Michigan's most common lady's slipper, occurring across a diversity of acidic soil habitats — from sandy, dry forests under red and jack pine, to moist ground and hummocks in sphagnum bogs under cedar, tamarack, or spruce. It is uncommon in limestone districts.

To survive and reproduce, Pink Lady's Slipper depends on a specific fungus in the soil from the Rhizoctonia genus. Orchid seeds do not carry their own food supply like most seeds, so the fungus must break open the seed and pass nutrients to it. As the plant matures, the relationship becomes mutually beneficial — the fungus then extracts nutrients from the orchid's roots in return. Pink Lady's Slipper can live to be twenty years old or more, and all native orchids in Michigan are protected by state law.