The lesser yellow lady's slipper is an attractive wildflower with a single, erect, leafy stem from 30-80 cm in height. The leaves are widely lanceolate to ovate and measure from 7-12 cm long and up to 7 cm wide, slightly glandular-pubescent, sessile and slightly sheathing. The venation is parallel.
The one flower (occasionally up to three) is large and showy, ranked one above the other. Each flower is subteneded by a large green, leaf-like bract. The sepals are yellowish or tinged with green and striped with purple, broadly lanceolate, twisted or wavy, with the upper sepal from 2.5-4 cm long and the two drooping sepals narrower and shorter. The pair of upper petals are narrower than the sepals, while the lower, drooping petal, forms a pouch-like lip from 2.5-4 cm in length. The lower lip is yellow with purple spotting.
Like many other large orchids, the lesser yellow lady's slipper should be admired in its natural environment and not picked or dug. Generally, the plants do not survive transplanting and picking may reduce the chances for survival by robbing the plant of much of its photosynthetic capabilities.
The lesser yellow lady's slipper may be found in damp mossy woods to open woods and in bogs.
The lesser yellow lady's slipper may be found from Alaska south through British Columbia to Washington and Oregon, where it is found east of the Cascade crest. It is found eastward to Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado and over much of the eastern United States and Canada. It is also found in Eurasia. It has only been reported from several sites in Washington state, and has been reported from the Warner Mts in Lake County, OR and Pea Vine Mt. in Josephine County, OR.
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