Home | Alphabetical Index | Conditions & Cures | Anti-Aging | Articles | Forums | Where to Buy

Lady's Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium species)

Proposed Uses: Anxiety; Musculoskeletal Pain (topical use) ; Insomnia

The common name "lady's slipper" refers to the distinctive shape of these beautiful orchids, members of the genus Cypripedium. Typically, the yellow lady's slipper Cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens (now called Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens) is used medicinally in Europe and North America. Cypripedium montanum, the rare mountain lady's slipper native to North America, is also wildcrafted (collected in the wild).

Traditionally, lady's slipper root was classified as a "nervine," indicating its purported healing and calming effect on the nerves. This term, however, is no longer used in medicine today.

What Is Lady's Slipper Orchid Used for Today?
Despite a complete absence of scientific evidence that it is effective, lady's slipper is sometimes used today either alone or as a component of formulas intended to produce treat anxiety or insomnia. 

Lady's slipper is also sometimes used topically as a poultice or plaster for relief of muscular pain, 2 but again there is no evidence that it is effective.

Dosage
The optimum oral dosage of lady's slipper is not known. A typical recommendation for Cyrpripedium species is 3 to 9 g of root or 2 to 6 ml of a tincture of fresh or dried root. For muscle pain relief, a topical application of fresh or dried roots mashed into a poultice or plaster is sometimes used.

Safety Issues
The safety of any medicinal application of these orchid species has not been established. Contact with the small hairs on some species can cause skin irritation.

Feature Article

The Fountain of Youth?

What if I told you that it may be possible for you to live to age 100 or even longer, in better health than you are in right now? And, if you are already experiencing the ill effects of aging, what if I told you that it may be possible for you to look and feel 20 years younger and stay that way beyond the age of 100.

Aside from the fact that you'd probably call me crazy, I have to tell you that we have never been as close as we are today to actually being able to extend human life!

Read More