Common names also include fairy queen, white wing moccasin, royal lady's slipper, and silver-slipper.

[5] Like other lady's slipper orchids (subfamily Cypripedioideae) the Cypripedium reginae has flowers with a pouch-shaped labellum.

Cypripedium reginae is a large, terrestrial orchid, growing 21–100 cm (0.7–3 ft) in height with many stems from the same rootstock.

reginae thrives in neutral to basic soils but can be found in slightly acidic conditions.

[2] Cypripedium reginae reproduces sexually and depends on insects such as syrphid flies, beetles and Megachile bees for pollination.

Pollination typically occurs in June and the seed pod or fruit is ripe by September and dehisces by October.

[9] The plant is classified as imperiled (SRANK S2) or critically imperiled (S1) in Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Newfoundland and Labrador, North Dakota, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

It is considered vulnerable (S3) in Indiana, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, New York, Quebec, Vermont, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, and several areas of eastern Canada.

[9] With funding from the San Diego Orchid Society, The New Hampshire Orchid Society, and the National Institutes of Health, the New Hampshire Academy of Science has performed extensive research regarding the conservation and genetic analysis of Cyp.

[12][13] [14] [15] The showy lady's slipper has been a subject of horticultural interest for many years, and was known to Charles Darwin who, like many, was unsuccessful in cultivating the plant.

In the 1990s a group of high school students in New Hampshire, under the direction of Dr. Peter Faletra, made substantial progress on axenic culture from seed and were able to obtain over 50% germination levels in about 3 weeks.

[3] Methods on transplanting seedlings raised in axenic culture to artificial fens have been advanced by The New Hampshire Academy of Science and can be found at the website [1].