Lady Slippers - orchid blooming time

 

Orchids are one of the largest plant families in the world. Most orchids are found in the tropics.  

There are over 200 species of orchids in North America. Some species of orchids live for over 100 years!

Orchids come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are small orchids, less than one inch but some of them grow to over 8 feet tall. A common feature of orchid life is their relationship with mycorrhizal fungi. At each stage of its life, an orchid is to some extent dependent on a specific fungus. Orchids can live on the ground (terrestrial), attached to other plants (epiphytic…sometimes parasitic), or underground.

 

The word “mycorrhiza” means fungal root. Mycorrhizae are fungi that have a symbiotic relationship with the roots of many plants. The fungi which commonly form mycorrhizal relationships with plants are ubiquitous in the soil."

 

 

Yellow Lady’s Slippers are an extremely amazing plants. The Yellow Lady's is  not widespread, and is considered endangered in some states. This beautiful orchid can be found in a variety of habitats, from the forest understory to meadows and bogs, primarily in the eastern United States (except Florida), the Rocky Mountain states, most Canadian provinces, and even Alaska.

Yellow Lady Slippers are listed in NC as "significantly rare". Few of them can have two flowers per stem. Dual flowers are the more rare variety of Yellow Lady Slippers. Lady Slippers cannot be transplanted due to their interrelationship with fungi in the soil.

"Pink Lady Slippers orchids often were regarded in traditional practices as having medicinal value. The root of lady's slipper was used as a remedy for nervousness, tooth pain, and muscle spasms. In the 1800s and 1900s it, and other orchids, were widely used as a substitute for the European plant valerian for sedative properties.

In order to survive and reproduce, pink lady's slipper interacts with a fungus in the soil from the Rhizoctonia genus. The fungus will pass on food and nutrients to the pink lady's slipper seed. When the lady’s slipper plant is older and producing most of its own nutrients, the fungus will extract nutrients from the orchid roots. This mutually beneficial relationship between the orchid and the fungus is known as “symbiosis” and is typical of almost all orchid species. "