Cypripedium montanum fma. praetertinctum

This is the "albino" or alba form of the Mountain Lady's Slipper. It has none of the mahogany or burgundy coloring of the normal form. We found these while photographing the Mountain Lady's Slippers in the Cascades, the first time we found them anywhere. There were only two plants with three flowers among the hundreds of plants and flowers we found.

And a word of explanation of the names: Cypripedium means "Venus Slipper", montanum means "mountain" and "praetertinctum" means "without color", so the names very accurately describe these flowers, which are, by all accounts rather rare. Though we have seen greenish flowers with just a hint of coloration this was the first time we saw this form.