Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

Pink Bog Orchid

 Calopogon sp. (C. pulchellus or C. tuberosus)

A North American native orchid originating in Wisconsin bogs bearing bright pink butterfly shaped flowers with several blooms per stem.

C.K. Reed, Wild Flowers East of the Rockies, Doubleday, Page & Co, Garden City, NY, 1907/PD
In Bloom
June–July
Growth Type
Perennial
Hardiness
4 through 8
Conditions
Prefers full sun to light shade and deep, moist (not flooded) soil.
Colors
Pink
Size
Flowering stem to 12-inches; entire plant dies down and goes dormant in the fall.
Documented By
Jean Skipwith, Lady Skipwith

This showy North American orchid is native to acid-bogs and moist prairies in Wisconsin, but is easy to grow in many regions of the United States with proper care. The genus Calopogon derives from the Greek terms kalos and pogon, meaning "beautiful beard," in reference to the cluster of hairs that adorn the lower petal. This species was first discovered in North America in the 1770s. Jean Skipwith, Lady Skipwith mentions Calopogon pulchellus in her late eighteenth century writings.1 Peter Henderson's reference to Calopogon, in his Henderson's Handbook of Plants and General Horticulture (1890), notes: "Like most of our native Orchids, it improves by cultivation."2

- Peggy Cornett, n.d.

Further Sources

Footnotes

  1. Ann Leighton, American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1986), 401.
  2. Peter Henderson, Henderson's Handbook of Plants and General Horticulture (New York: P. Henderson & Co., 1890), 66.