The Lone Slipper

This Yellow Lady’s Slipper continues to be an annual source of joy and frustration.  The joy comes from greeting the plant each spring and reacquainting myself with the lovely bloom.  Frustration soon follows as I futilely attempt to locate a second plant of this species somewhere on the property.  At the end of the season it’s always just one plant.  It may develop multiple stalks, but it’s still the same plant.

The bloom lasts for weeks if not eaten or damaged. I suspect this persistence is due to lack of pollination.  A pollinated flower would wilt as the plant put its energy into seed production.  The virgin bloom just sits and waits.  This allows for long term enjoyment of the flower, but gives no chance for the development of new plants.

Bumblebees are said to be a common pollinator of Lady’s Slippers, but the chances of a Bumblebee visiting this single flower seem very low.  There’s nothing else in the vicinity of this plant that appears at all attractive to Bumblebees.  If a Bumblebee did enter this flower, it would have to be already carrying Lady’s Slipper pollen for the visit to be productive.  The odds against pollination are just too great to overcome.

Yellow Lady’s Slippers may appear quite showy at close range.  From a distance, the blooming plant blends right into its surroundings.  My search for other plants has been pretty thorough.  I’ve worked a tight grid pattern over all of the likely areas of Blue Jay Barrens and have found no other orchids. 

I wonder if this plant is a remnant of a larger population or if it is a lone colonizer.  I’ll probably never answer that question.  All I have is the hope that comes with knowing that if there’s one, there can be more.

At least that single bloom allows me to enjoy one of my favorite flower faces.  This always reminds me of a Jim Henson creation.  It might well be called the Muppet flower.

Some Woodland Flowers

I made a check of the Yellow Lady’s Slipper orchid to see what I might expect in the way of blooms this year and found a single stalk growing.  Last year’s two stalks produced a total of three flowers.  Unfortunately, the flowers ended up withering before there was even a hope of them producing seed.  Each year seems to bring some new surprise from these plants.  I’m still waiting for the year the surprise turns out to be more plants.

I searched the slope in vane for more Yellow Lady’s Slipper plants.  This hillside doesn’t have an abundance of wildflowers, but there are a few of interest.  Basal leaves of the American Columbo are looking bright and fresh.  For some reason, I was reminded of tropical climates when I looked at this plant growing at the base of a young Sugar Maple.

A few Columbo plants have produced stalks that will bear a crop of flowers.  It’s always an odd sight to find one of these tall plants towering in the woods.

The Columbo flower buds are in place awaiting the elongation of the flower stalk.  A few of these plants bloom each year.  The other plants remain as a collection of basal leaves and return as such each year until the conditions are right for them to reproduce.  The flowering year is its last year of life.

Mayapple numbers seem to increase each year.  There are now large sections of the woods that support these plants. 

Many plants produced flowers this year.  Annual flower numbers fluctuate greatly, but I haven’t noticed any correlation between weather conditions and flowering.

Fruits are already developing in some flowers.  Most will disappear long before they become ripe. 

One of the showiest blooms on the hillside is that of the Violet Wood Sorrel.  These petals seem to luminesce in the woodland shadows and catch my attention whenever I walk by.

The plants prosper in places that tend to be free of leaves.  The downhill side of a fallen log is a perfect place to find these plants.  Leaves displaying a purple blush are almost as attractive as the blooms.

Violet Wood Sorrel also commonly grows in the raised soil around the base of large trees.  Not all leaves are heavily marked with purple patches, but all show some degree of violet coloring.

This hillside used to support a good population of Jack-in-the-pulpit.  Now I rarely see any blooming plants.  Most of the population is now composed of young, non-flowering plants.

Squawroot has finally pushed itself up through the leaves and is beginning to bloom.  These parasitic plants are without chlorophyll, so their color is quite pale.  They may look like a sign of ill health, but only a healthy ecosystem can support parasites.  I take them as a sign that the overall health of the Blue Jay Barrens woodlands is good.

Topsy Turvey Slippers

If you prefer projects that are controllable and follow a predictable course, you probably wouldn’t enjoy managing populations of wild native plants. I took a rainy walk through the woods in search of additional Yellow Lady’s Slipper plants and found instead that my existing plant had made a rather unexpected transformation. My slippers have reoriented themselves into a sole up position.

The reclining stalk with the single bloom straightened itself into an upright position. This maneuver flipped the flower onto its back. It’s now looking quite unorchid like.

At the same time, the stalk with the double bloom has bent itself double just below the upper leaf. The twin flower bearing stalks are now directed towards the ground and the blooms are in an upside down position.

Will potential pollinators recognize the flowers in this unnatural orientation? I’ve always felt that the chances were slim of a pollinator carrying Yellow Lady’s Slipper pollen to this isolated plant. Now it seems that this event has reduced those chances even further.

It’s not hard to imagine the double bloomed stalk becoming damaged and allowing the flowers to fall. The stem doesn’t appear damaged though, just bent. It’s harder to understand the reason for the reclining stem suddenly straightening up. I would expect the stem to fully develop prior to the emergence of the flower. Fortunately, I enjoy mysteries and will add this to my collection. I can almost imagine this being the work of Woods Elves that rearranged the flowers and then hid laughing behind a tree stump when I came by and did a double take at the new look of my orchid plant.

Double Yellow Lady's Slipper

The Blue Jay Barrens population of Large Yellow Lady’s Slipper, Cypripedium calceolus, has put on a spectacular show this year with three times the blooms that appeared last year. That sounds great, but once again I’m dealing with an extremely small population. In this case it’s just a single plant. None the less, the single stalk with flower that appeared last year has been outdone by the two stalks and three blooms that are currently present. Those adept at math can quickly see that this must mean one of the stalks is carrying two flowers.

I give credit for two flowers on one stalk even though one of the blooms failed to produce a proper pouch. It might be possible that the weather has helped the plant develop this year, but I feel that a more important factor is the fact that the deer have not eaten on the plant for the past three years. It was common for this plant to be chewed to the ground in the spring. A few years ago, a fallen tree formed a partial corral around the plant and that seems to have kept the deer from wandering into this area.

Even though the second flower didn’t fully form, I take it as a sign of increased vigor that the plant even attempted two flowers. I may have only a single plant, but I would like that plant to be as healthy as possible.

The second stalk also had some development problems and failed to produce an upright posture. As I do each time this plant blooms, I’m hoping that seeds somehow develop. I thought that was going to happen last year when the pod remained green and began to expand. Things looked good for a while and then the pod began to yellow and eventually dropped off.

At least the one plant I have is doing well. I keep looking for other Yellow Lady’s Slipper plants. I don’t know if this plant represents the last of a population that was once common here or if it is the first to show up. I believe that I’ll find another of its kind and when I do, I’ll wonder how I ever missed seeing such a distinctive plant.

Yellow Lady's Slipper

I look forward to seeing this plant each spring. The problem is that this is the only specimen of Yellow Lady’s Slipper, Cypripedium calceolus, found at Blue Jay Barrens and it only produces a bloom about once every three years. The other years it either produces no flower bud or the plant gets eaten by a deer.

Even without the flower, the broad, strong veined leaves make it an attractive plant. There’s also a nice hairy covering on the leaves and stem. I’m a big fan of hairy plants.

The flower has three petals. Two are long and curled and drape down from the sides of the bloom, while a lower petal is modified into an open bowl shape. The hood arching above the lower petal is actually one of the sepals. The lower petal gets all the attention. It’s supposed to resemble a slipper, which it might if you mean a slipper for a cartoon character.

The plant has never produced any seed, so I’m suspecting that it cannot self fertilize. I chased a little bee out when I got close to the flower. It’s unlikely that any bee would visit a distant Lady’s Slipper and then show up here. I’m not hopeful of this plant ever being fertilized. I suspect this little bee got in and couldn’t get back out. Not a likely candidate for a pollinator.

Some trees fell a couple of years ago to make a corral around the plant. Maybe this will divert the deer enough to keep them from browsing here. Every year I search the hillsides for more Yellow Lady’s Slippers. It’s quite possible that there are more individuals that I have yet to locate. I hope so.