Calypso bulbosa var. americana (R. Br. ex Ait. f.) Luer
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TAXONOMY
 
Family: Orchidaceae
Genus: Calypso
 
Species Synonyms: Cytherea bulbosa (L.) House p.p.
Common Names: fairy slipper
fairyslipper orchid
Venus’-slipper orchid
 
DISTRIBUTION
 
Canada: Yukon Territory – Mackenzie District – British Columbia – Alberta – Saskatchewan – Manitoba – Ontario – southern and eastern Quebec – Newfoundland – Nova Scotia
Saskatchewan: northern and southwestern Saskatchewan; Cypress Hills
Ecoregion: Cypress Upland, Boreal Transition, Mid-Boreal Upland, Mid-Boreal Lowland, Churchill River Upland, Athabasca Plain, Tazin Lake Upland
 
HABITAT
 
Saskatchewan: usually coniferous forest, in litter
Associated Species: bishop’s cap, bunchberry, dwarf rattlesnake plantain, jackpine, lingonberry, prairie rose, small enchanter’s nightshade, small flower columbine, squashberry, twinflower, white spruce
 
RARITY STATUS
 
Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):
Vulnerable
Nature Conservancy Status:
G5T5 S3
Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:
None
COSEWIC Status:
Endangered
 
Fairy slipper is vulnerable in Saskatchewan because it is limited to two general regions in the province. Although there are numerous localities of this species, most local populations are small. This species faces threats in northern Saskatchewan relating to habitat loss and logging.
 
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
 
Height: 6 – 20 cm
Roots: corm bulbous, sheathed, 1 – 2.5 cm long; roots slender, coral-like
Stems: leafless, purplish
Leaves: solitary, basal, blade present at time of flowering, 2 – 6.5 cm long, 1.5 – 5 cm long, tip rounded to acute, base often heart-shaped, bluish-green, hairless; leaf stalk to 6 cm long, longitudinally grooved
Inflorescence: flower solitary; bract 0.5 – 2.5 cm long, lance-shaped, tip tapered to a long point, purplish
Flowers: showy, hanging down; sepals oblique, 1.2 – 2.3 cm long, 2 – 3 mm wide, pink; petals pink; lip ~ 2 cm long, inflated, sac-like, not spurred, whitish with yellow tip, marked with reddish-brown, 3 rows of yellow hairs; fertile anthers 1, on underside of column, pollen masses bilobed; column petal-like, nearly round, inverted in the orifice of the lip, 7 – 12 mm long, nearly as wide
Fruits: capsule 2 – 3 cm long, ellipsoid
 
ORCHIDACEAE KEY FOR GENERA FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN
 
1 Plants saprophytic, without chlorophyll, yellowish to brownish; leaves reduced
Corallorhiza
1 Plants not saprophytic, with chlorophyll, green; leaves well developed
2
   
2 Lip sac-like, not spurred
3
2 Lip not sac-like, may be spurred
5
 
3 Leaves several
Cypripedium
3 Leaves solitary to 2
4
 
4 Leaf oval to round
Calypso
4 Leaf linear
Arethusa
 
5 Basal spur on lip
6
5 Basal spur absent
9
 
6 Leaves on the stem
7
6 Leaves basal
8
 
7 Pollinia parallel or nearly so; lip unlobed
Platanthera
7 Pollinia divergent; lip notched to three lobed
Coeloglossum
 
8 Lip white, spotted with purple, sepals and petals rose
Amerorchis
8 Flowers greenish or white
Habenaria
 
9 Leaves 2
10
9 Leaves 1 – several
11
 
10 Leaves in basal pair
Liparis
10 Leaves in the middle of the stem
Listera
 
11 Flowers greenish; stems swollen at base
Malaxis
11 Flowers white, cream, yellow or brown, occasionally tinged with green; swelling at base absent
12
 
12 Leaves reticulate marked, midrib white; flower spike not twisted; woodlands
Goodyera
12 Leaves not reticulate marked, midrib green; flower spike twisted; prairies
Spiranthes