Yellow Lady Slipper Muncho Lake Provincial Park, BC

[Alan Milnes]

Road trip to Northern British Columbia and the Yukon this past spring and early summer. Hiked up a massive alluvial plain and was very surprised to see many yellow lady slipper orchids flourishing. Comments welcome.

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice find - those look like healthy specimens. Neat flowers.

 

[Eric Gofreed]

Gorgeous photo!!! I had seen a photo of lady's slippers by Doug Sherman before, but your photo inspired me to research more about them and I discovered something fascinating about orchids. All orchids rely on fungi to grow, especially during their early stages. Orchid seeds are incredibly tiny and lack the nutrients most seeds have, so they depend on a symbiotic relationship with specific fungi. These fungi break down organic matter in the soil to provide the nutrients orchids need to germinate. This relationship, called mycorrhizal symbiosis, is vital for orchids to survive in the wild. Interestingly, some orchids rely on this partnership for their entire lives, while others need it only in their early stages.

 

[Alan Milnes]

Thanks Eric. Appreciate your interest. You may enjoy a book by Suzanne Simard entitled Finding the Mother Tree. It details her work in BC as a forester and later an ecologist/researcher. The basis of her book is a detailed description of the sharing that occurs amongst plants and tree utilizing the underground mycorrhizal network.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Alan, I have always like the delicate name given to these delicate flowers!

 

[Eric Gofreed]

Thanks Eric. Appreciate your interest. You may enjoy a book by Suzanne Simard entitled Finding the Mother Tree. It details her work in BC as a forester and later an ecologist/researcher. The basis of her book is a detailed description of the sharing that occurs amongst plants and tree utilizing the underground mycorrhizal network.

I added that to my long list of reading/research interests