Cypripedium arietinum

Cypripedium arietinum, the ram's-head lady's slipper, is a small herbaceous perennial in the orchid family, Orchidaceae, native to eastern North America. It grows in swamp forests, sandy bluffs, and upland forests, with a distribution centered around the Great Lakes region and extending west to Saskatchewan and east to Nova Scotia. Populations of this species have declined, largely due to habitat loss, increased herbivory by deer, invasive species, and poaching, and it is considered a species of conservation concern throughout its range. Its unusual flower morphology, differing markedly from other North American slipper orchids, led some early taxonomists to place the species in a separate genus. Modern taxonomic and phylogenetic work places it in Cypripedium sect. Arietinum, together with its closest relative, the east Asian species C. plectrochilum....read more on Wikipedia.