Pink Lady's Slipper - Cypripedium acaule

It's so rare for me to see a pink lady's slipper that has actually gotten old and crusty! Usually, deer eat the flowers and I find the headless stems!

These plants are characterized by a leafless stalk that bears 1-2 flowers that have a distinctive, pink, inflated, slipper-like lip petal.

In Maine, they are listed as a species of “special concern” in the Native Plant Protection Act. These orchids only grow in specific habitats, so collection and consumption by wild animals are serious threats. They can take years to grow from seeds to mature plants.

Lady’s slippers have a symbiotic relationship with a fungus (Rhizoctonia sp.) that provides the plant with nutrients. The orchid seeds do not have food supplies inside them like many other kinds of seeds. Instead, they require fungi to break open the seed and attach to them. The fungus then passes on food and nutrients to the pink lady's slipper seed. When the plant is mature and producing most of its own nutrients, the fungus extracts nutrients from the orchid roots. Because of this symbiotic relationship, transplantation of pink lady slippers is not successful unless there is a sufficient amount of fungus in the new area.