Lost Moccasins

moccasins rest in the leaves under a cluster of yellow lady's slippers
Lost Moccasins
2022

Where better to lose one’s moccasins than under an elusive moccasin flower? Besides the moniker moccasin flower, the members of the Cypripedium genus have also been known as Indian shoe, Venus’s shoe, whippoorwill’s shoe, slipper root, and, most commonly, lady’s slippers. The moccasins themselves are based on a pair from Massachusetts circa the 1800’s, with dark dyed leather, silk ribbon, and floral embroidery—not a pair you’d want to lose, even for the sake of nesting wren.