Pink Lady Slipper Orchids
Pink Lady Slipper Orchids
Pink Lady Slipper Orchid
Took these shots 2 Springs ago on a hike up a dune ledge in Moreau, NY, where a large sandy swath of inland barrens abuts a rich mixed forest of beech, white pine, hemlock and blueberry. At this edge was good population of the pink lady slipper orchids, Cypripedium acaule. I’ve been often surprised to stumble across them in in mid to late spring, in often very varying habitats. And I didn’t expect to see them here. The universal medium is acidic soils however, and they tend to like a bit of shade. I was certainly at the time on acidic sands, transitioning into the flood plain of small lake. Like many orchids, they have an underground association with particular fungi symbiont (referred to as a mycrorrhizzal relationship = myco/fungal, and rhiza/root ). This tight relationship often makes their culture outside the forest difficult, but not impossible. They are found far north past Maine, and down into Southern State where they become less common (and in some States protected).  I was again surprised to see a single pink lady slipper orchid this past Spring, growing alone in the middle of my back yard! Since the area is heavily mowed and manipulated, I assume that this is a single new plant- that will start a little colony in the area. The ladysliper orchids form a group of terrestrial orchids (assembled as the subfamily Cypripedioideae) where most plants possess basal leaves, and one or rarely two flower stalks/stipes that bear a single flower. In the first image, two pink lady slippers stand side by side, the flowers facing in opposite directions, a photo I enjoy for a slight whimsical feel, as if the flowers in botanical anthropomorphism appear to be snubbing each other. Enjoy! NG.
