Cypripedium parviflorum growing wild on the Prairies

[TDT]

Went out to a location by Saskatoon this afternoon with a group from our local orchid society. Wonderful day 20C mostly cloudy but bright! No sign of wood ticks, not many mosquitos, nice breeze, ground a bit boggy but not bad for walking. Also flowering: Blue-eyed grass, Heart-leaved Alexanders, Northern Bedstraw, Strawberry, Bog Violet, Prickly Rose.

This site is also a location of the floral emblem of Saskatchewan, the Red Lily, Lilium philadelphicum, under study by researchers at the University of Saskatchewan.

Snapped a lot of photos, here are a few. I really enjoyed seeing the variety in color.....

 

[Secundino]

Great! Thanks for sharing!

 

[NYEric]

Nice, and such variety! Thanks for sharing.

 

[SlipperKing]

Thanks! The solid red dorsal and petals was really nice.

 

[Dido]

nice pcis thanks would like to have a pure yellow one one day

 

[Ruth]

Nice!!
I am surprised by the amount of sunshine these cyps take. I thot they were more shade loving.

 

[likespaphs]

fantastic!

 

[Spaph]

Awesome shots and great variation in clones... thanks so much for posting! Is the all yellow one an album??

 

[SlipperFan]

I, too, am surprised they are growing in so much sun.

 

[TDT]

We did notice that the majority of the larger clumps were growing tucked in close to the base of a dogwood shrub, but some clumps, and many, many singles were right out in the open too!

 

[willamblera]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Leo Schordje]

Beautiful.

One way to tell parviflorum from pubescens is that parviflorum on the average likes a bright, open sunny location. Pubescens is normally found in somewhat shady locations, often forest edge settings and in open woodlands.

Great photos, and great to see the natural variation. Did you smell them? According to Carson Whitlow, parviflorum tends to have a rancid butter note in its floral fragrance, while pubescens tends to be more fruity. I think pubescens (at least from the Wisconsin Dells area) has a fresh peach fragrance.

What did these smell like.

 

[TDT]

I'm sorry to say I didn't smell them!! What was I thinking???! I was certainly close enough to some of them, all I needed to do was breathe deeply! I did stop to stick my nose into a newly-opened stem of bedstraw! If I go out again I'll make a point of smelling them!