Aphrodite, the goddess of love and and female beauty emerged from the foam of the Mediterranean Sea at the ancient city of Paphos in Cyprus Island. For this reason she is also referred to as Paphia, i. e. Aprodite of Paphos.

Paphiopedilum means Paphia's sandals, alluding to the shape of the labellum in these orchids.
The first member of this genus in cultivation in Europe was Paphiopedilum venustum imported from the Khasia Hills located in North India, arriving in England in 1812. In the same year it was followed by the synpatric P. insigne. In this satellite image its natural habitat of these species is marked by the third icon at top left.
The insigne species name means "significant" and it is indeed a significant, popular species as well as its innumerable hybrids are.

P. bellatulum (above) is native to Thailand, Burma and Laos. Its specific name is the diminutive form of "beautyful" in Latin and this orchid is a little beauty indeed.

Slopes and foothills of the Himalaya Mountains harbour many species but the richest region is North Viet Nam and Southwest China, presumably the cradle of the whole genus. This satellite image might help in visualizing how these orchids dispersed then became isolated, evolving into new species.

Because due to the natural barrier represented by the sea intensive speciation took place and, consequently, Islands of the Indomalaysian Archipelago are homelands of many narrowly localized, interesting and rare Paphiopedilum species.

Notice that while climatic conditions of tropical North Australia at least theoretically could provide suitable habitats for many Paphiopedilum species, not a single one is known from there.

Even Papua New Guinea's extremely species-rich flora includes only 5-6 Paphiopedilum forms whose species rank is disputable.