native MN cyps

I'm not into the taxonomy of Cyps, but I figured there would be some people here that would like to see some pics of what I understand are two different varieties of C. calceolus. I found them growing in a ditch in Ottertail County Minnesota...I was driving, about 30 mph at the time, and all I saw was a flash of yellow, but I have slipper-raydar :rollhappy: To my credit I did look in my rear view mirror before slamming on the brakes to jump out and take pics! Has anyone else ever seen two var. growing within 2 feet of eachother before?



~Miss Paph

 

Very nice photos! The North American C. calceolus plants are now accepted as C. parviflorum. The three varieties are var.parviflorum, var. pubescens, and var. makasin.

Based on your location, the images superficially resemble var. parviflorum and var. pubescens, respectively. However, it is pretty hard to tell without knowing if the second plant is larger.

And yes, those two varieties are known to occasionally inhabit the same area, especially in your neck of the woods. Absolutely amazing photos!

 

I love those photos! thanks...they are blooming already?!
I can't wait untill my parviflorum blooms Mine's supposed to be parviflorum var. parviflorum but I heard many cultivated are miss IDed

 

Agreed, beautiful photos! I'm going to go out in search of Cyps this spring (for photos). They're not common on the roadside here in CO, but they shouldn't be too hard to find.

- Matt

 

stupid newbie question...if they are already blooming where you guys are does that make it safe for me to pot my roots up now and let them grow indoors?

 

I don't think these are blooming now.

 

Those photos had to have been taken during a previous season. The var. pubescens down here haven't even started breaking through the leaf litter.

 

ok good... I was scared Canada had a much longer winter than you guys for a moment

 

Canada does have a longer winter. oke:

 

yeh, you're so lucky workin' where they propagate slippers and stuff...

 

Sorry to confuse anyone about bloom time I just hadn't joined slipper talk yet when I took the photos, so posting them now had nothing to do w/ them blooming now...just spring fever made me think of them I suppose. These pictures were taken in mid-June I believe.
~Miss Paph

 

In any case, what a great find! Thanks for sharing.

 

great photo's,spring is in the air.

 

Yes, great photos! They both look to me to be Cyp. parviflorum var. pubescens. It's just that you've got samples showing the extremes of colour intensity that would normally be seen in a large colony. Unless the darker one is about 1/3 the size of the lighter one, theyr'e both var. pubescens. Plus, var. parviflorum is usually even a bit darker coloured and has much more extreme and ridgid curling to the petals and a narrower pouch.

Edit: On second though....and after viewing your wonderful photos again, I would be much more comfortable in my opinion if I could see more photos of the same plants. Whole plant shots and plant and flower size measurements would help a lot. If these two plants are considerably different in size (the darker being the smaller plant and flower), then, the darker one could be a lighter version of var. parviflorum. To be sensible, there's really not enough information just as yet to decide what's what. Heck, the darker one could even be a hybrid between the two varieties = var. pubescens x var. parviflorum, or vise versa. Around here, both varieties occure in the same habitats; although, the var. parviflorum are usually finishing just as the var. pubescens are reaching their peak.

 

John, now that I take a look again, they both seem to be var. pubescens.

 

The darker colored flowers were indeed noticeably smaller, but as someone commented, they could easily be hybrids, being as they're growing in clumps not five feet from eachother. I do have more pictures, but they're just of different angles - side, back - so probably wouldn't say a whole lot more for those who are extra curious about their identity. The other pics are a bit fuzzy too - hadn't seen wild slippers before, so perhaps I was jumping around a bit in excitement while trying to take the pics
~Miss Paph

 

If I had to come down on one side of the fence or the other, I'd agree with that. It's just that I realized I was being very certain about my identification; but really, it takes more than just a couple photos to properly identify a plant. So, I added the "disclaimer".

BTW, I checked out my post of Cyp. parviflorum var. parviflorum from last year (on this forum) and when comparing that plant to these two, I am leaning even more to these as being pubescens. ....Although, the extra curly petals on the darker one....and now knowing that it was smaller, does strengthen the possiblity of it being a natual hybrid between the two varieties.

 

var. pubescens is an extremely variable taxon. I took all of the following photos from the very same population:

http://runnerzach.googlepages.com/cypripediumparviflorumvar.pubescens

 

looks like there was a good population of them there. Did you go back to see more of a blooming?