Cypripedium calceolus seed

LATIN NAME: Cypripedium calceolus

COMMON NAME: Lady’s Slipper Orchid

The lady’s slipper orchid is a handsome, upright, perennial herb of the shaded woodlands, and its fine, broad, oval, pleated leaves and its fine, upright stem of the one or two large, strikingly beautiful, slipper-shaped flowers with the fine yellow and brown parts have made it a treasure among the protected wild orchids of the region. It grows as an upright, perennial herb, reaching up to half a metre or so, with the upright, slender, softly hairy stem bearing the alternate, broad, oval, pointed, pleated leaves and, through the late spring, the one or two large, slipper-shaped flowers with the fine, inflated, yellow pouch and the twisted, purple-brown petals, followed by the small, dry, many-seeded capsules of the very fine, dust-like seeds. It is a species of the orchid in the orchid family, and it is native to the shaded woodlands of the Europe and the temperate Asia, while it is treasured and protected across its range, and it is known as the lady’s slipper orchid.

In the orchid family it is the aristocrat of the north, a yellow-slippered flower that the woodland botanists of two continents have watched over for generations.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

For the botanists, the lady’s slipper orchid is one of the great conservation stories of the European flora, and the papers on its protection keep the species close to the centre of the work. The real fascination lies in its seeds: they are fine as dust, and they will only begin their life with the help of the soil fungi of the woodland, so the study of the orchid-fungus partnership has become a field of its own. Researchers have traced the way the seedlings take their first food from the fungi before the first green leaf ever shows, and the horticulturists of the hardy orchids have used that knowledge to grow the plants with care in the garden. The native plants are to be admired in the wild, never taken from the woodland, and the growers of the conservation garden keep the species in their collections.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the woodland border, the lady’s slipper orchid is the quiet treasure of the shade. Its large, slipper-shaped, yellow-and-brown flowers are visited by the fine bees of the woodland, and its broad, pleated leaves give a gentle presence to the shaded border and the woodland floor through the summer. The plant is protected in the wild and best left there, while the garden plants are grown with care from the fine, dust-like seeds. It grows well in the cool, leafy, well-drained ground of the shaded spot. Golden, shy and protected.

These are the finest of fine seeds, and they ask for patience — sow them onto the surface of a pot of fine, leafy, well-drained mix with a little of the woodland soil, keep it moist but never soggy and keep the pot in cool shade, and with a little time the first tiny leaves will appear, the beginning of a flower that will one day astonish the whole border.