Storm Damaged Orchid

The lone Blue Jay Barrens Yellow Lady’s Slipper Orchid sent up two stalks this year and managed to produce three full blooms.

It’s hard to consider a population as being stable when there is just a single individual involved.  As in the past, I’ve been searching to discover another of this species somewhere on the property.  No luck so far.

This plant manages to send up at least one flowering stalk each year.  Unfortunately, it seems a normal occurrence for disaster to befall the plant before it can develop a seed pod.  The flowers and top of plant have been eaten on several occasions, a large limb fell and crushed the single flower that developed that year, a strange wilting disease shriveled up the flowers another year.  It always seems to be something.  This year it was a particularly violent wind storm.

This flower lost its slipper completely.

A neatly storm cleaved slipper makes it easy to view the interior pattern.

Only one of the three flowers was unscathed.  So far, the plants have only had to contend with a single disaster per year.  Though that doesn’t mean they are now really safe.

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.

Yellow Lady's Slipper Seed Pod

There’s been an interesting development with the lone Yellow Lady’s Slipper. The plant remains vigorous and the seed pod, which normally yellows by this stage in development, has remained green and is expanding in size. Perhaps this is the year it will produce seed.

If this is a sign of seed development, I’m still wondering where they pollen came from. Since I’ve never seen the plant even look like it was producing seeds, I figured that it was not self fertile and needed pollen from another plant. It’s certainly exciting to imagine little seeds forming within that pod. Maybe the whole hillside will be blooming with Yellow Lady’s Slippers in a few years.

I found several young assassin bugs patrolling the plant. They apparently had recently shed their exoskeletons. That’s an old skin hanging below the dried flower. Maybe they will protect the pod from hungry small scale herbivores.

Several more of the little guys were patrolling the leaves. More than enough to keep the orchid free of marauders. Of course, the thought flashed through my mind that I hoped there were enough insects on the orchid to feed all of those assassin bugs. I’ll keep checking the plant to see how it develops. I’m going to be really disappointed if I go out one day and find nothing left but a stem. It’s happened before.