Plant Species: Calypso bulbosa, fairy-slipper
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida -- monocots
Family: Orchidaceae -- orchid
Genus: Calypso
Species: bulbosa
Variety:
Common Name: fairy-slipper
Species Code: CABU
Origin: Native to moist, shady woods in much of western and northern North America. Both var. americana and var. occidentalis may be found in the west. They differ mostly in the color of the beard, that of var. americana being yellow while that of var. occidentalis is white. The species as a whole is circumboreal.
Rare: no
Form: forb, perennial, 10-20 cm, scapose, glabrous, from an ovoid to globose corm.
Duration: perennial
Longevity:
Habitat Type: forest
Wetland Indicator Status: FAC+
Leaves: a single blade from the top of the corm, appearing in the fall; elliptic, ovate or cordate, acute, 3-8 cm long; petiole 1-6 cm long.
Mature height: 4-8 inches
Flowers: usually single, sepals and petals similar, rose-pink or magenta with 3 darker veins, ascending, lanceolate to linear-oblong, 10-25 mm long; lip sac-like with 2 lobes; column hood-like, purplish, arched over lip.
Flower color: pink to red
Bloom: April, May
Bloom starts on: late April
Bloom ends on: late May to early June
Fruit: capsule, erect, ellipsoid to lanceoloid, 1-3 cm long.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Native orchids or their seed should never be collected from the wild. Enjoy them where they grow and leave them alone.
Cytherea bulbosa in Piper & Beattie 1914.
Native orchids do not do well in cultivation and will persist in the garden for only a few seasons. They should not be collected from the wild (Hitchcock & Cronquist 1973).
Habitat destruction and picking of the flowers threaten the species. Picking the flower damages the corm and kills the plant (Patterson et al 1985).
Reproduces by seed.
Perennating organ is a corm.
2n=28.
Flowers are self-compatible and pollinated by bumblebees (Mosquin 1971).
Pollinated by queen bumblebees, although C. bulbosa offers no nectar reward and the bees may learn to avoid the flowers (Boyden 1982).
Flowers are self compatible and also may outcross (Alexandersson & Agren 2000).
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a capsule.
Comments:
Sun requirement: shade
Soil moisture: moist
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Propagation:
Native orchids or their seed should never be collected from the wild. Enjoy them where they grow and leave them alone. Seed germination requires the use of special medium and techniques. Seed is dissimilar from seed of most other plants.
Orchid seeds lack an endosperm, radicle, and leaf rudiments (Arditti et al 1981).
Seed will only germinate and the plants must grow in association with certain of several species of mycorrhizae (Currah et al 1988, Horn 1972, Parish et al 1996).
Native orchids do not do well in cultivation and will persist in the garden for only a few seasons. They should not be collected from the wild (Hitchcock & Cronquist 1973).
Habitat destruction and picking of the flowers threaten the species. Picking the flower damages the corm and kills the plant (Patterson et al 1985).
Seed from mature capsules germinates poorly, while seed from immature capsules germinates at high rates (Arditti et al 1981).
Reproduces by seed.
Notes:
References:
Alexandersson, R., and J. Agren. 2000. Genetic Structure in the Nonrewarding, Bumblebee-pollinated Orchid
Calypso bulbosa. Heredity 85:401-409.
Arditti, Joseph, Justine D. Michaud, and Allison P. Oliva. 1981. Seed Germination of North American Orchids. I. Native California and Related Species of Calypso, Epipactis, Goodyera, Piperia, and Platanthera. Botanical Gazette 142:442-453.
Boyden, Thomas C. 1982. The Pollination Biology of Calypso bulbosa var. americana (Orchidaceae): Initial Deception of Bumblebee Visitors. Oecologia 55:178-184.
Brown, Paul M. 2006. Wild Orchids of the Pacific Northwest and Canadian Rockies. University Press of Florida, Gainesville FL. 287 pp.
Currah, R.S., S. Hambleton, and A Smreciu. 1988. Mycorrhizae and Mycorrhizal Fungi of Calypso bulbosa. American Journal of Botany 75:739-752.
Hitchcock, C. Leo, and Arthur Cronquist. 1973. Flora of the Pacific Northwest. Univ. of Washington Press. Seattle, WA.
Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.
Horn, Elizabeth L. 1972. Wildflowers 1, the Cascades. Touchstone Press. Beaverton, OR.
Mosquin, Theodore. 1971. Competition for Pollinators as a Stimulus for the Evolution of Flowering Time. Oikos 22:398-402.
Parish, Roberta, Ray Coupe, and Dennis Lloyd. 1996. Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia. Lone Pine Publishing. Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Patterson, Patricia A, Kenneth E. Neiman, and Jonalea R. Tonn. 1985. Field Guide to Forest Plants of Northern Idaho. USDA Forest Service Intermountain Research Station. General Technical Report INT-180. Ogden, Utah.
Piper, C.V., and R.K. Beattie. 1914. The Flora of Southeastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho. Lancaster, PA: Press of the New Era Printing Company. 296 pp.
Proctor, Heather C., and Lawrence D. Harder. 1995. Effect of Pollination Success on Floral Longevity in the Orchid Calypso bulbosa (Orchidaceae). American Journal of Botany 82:1131-1136.