Lady’s Slipper, Moccasin flower or Cypripedium spp.
Introduction
Lady’s slippers are flowering plants, which means they belong to the group of plants that produces flowers and then develops fruits. Lady’s slippers are orchids that are native to Nova Scotia; all of them are stunning because of the size and complexity of their flowers.
Appearance and Habitat
The first signs of lady’s slippers are the large, wide, green leaves, with parallel veins that slowly emerge from the ground. They are not out for long before the plant produces a stem. The flower almost “inflates” from the top of the stem. They are the first Nova Scotian orchid to flower, almost always opening before the end of May. The most common is the pink lady’s slipper (which also has a white flowering variety). The yellow lady’s slipper is rare in Nova Scotia and is found only in places where soils are not very acidic; this showy lady’s slipper is very rare. The pink lady’s slipper is abundant in places where both disturbances are low, and soil and light conditions are ideal. But this does not occur in many places and most people have never seen lady’s slippers. They are one of the first species to disappear when human impact becomes too great. If you are searching for them, it is best to look in isolated, undisturbed shady parts of parks and woodlands.
Pollination
Lady’s slippers, unlike most flowers, do not produce nectar but still require insects to carry the sticky pollen from one flower to another. Lady’s slippers flower early in the spring when not too much else is flowering. They are very showy and many insects will go to lady’s slipper flowers to investigate. The flowers of lady’s slippers are sphere-like and somewhat empty on the inside. When insects of the right size enter the flower, they cannot reverse direction and exit the way they came in. They are “trapped” in the flower and forced to follow the specific path to the exit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IX2F-0fMY4. This path takes them past the stamens with the sticky pollen on them. If the insect’s body is big enough, the pollen will stick to it. Hopefully this same insect will find and enter another lady’s slipper where the pollen will come off onto its pistil. Lady’s slippers do not reliably produce seeds every year and germination of the seed is complicated.
Special Relationships
Like most plants, the roots of mature lady’s slippers have important relationships with fungi in the ground called “mycorrhizae”. For the pink lady’s slipper, this relationship is even more important as the lady’s slipper seeds need the fungal threads to break open the seed and feed nutrients to the baby plant as it develops. Once the plant is larger and has excess glucose it will then share that with the fungus. Lady’s slippers will not survive if their particular species of fungus is not present in the soil.
Scientific Name
The pink lady’s slipper is known scientifically as Cypripedium acaule.
Scientific information by Monica Schuegraf
