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: Aquilegia brevistyla, Circaea alpina, Cornus canadensis, Goodyera repens, Linnaea borealis, Mitella nuda, Picea glauca, Picea mariana, Pinus banksiana, Populus tremuloides, Rosa arkansana, Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Viburnum edule
 
RARITY STATUS
 
Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):
Vulnerable
Nature Conservancy Status:
G5T5 S3
Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:
None
COSEWIC Status:
Endangered
 
Calypso bulbosa var. americana 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, coralloid
Stems: scape leafless, purplish
 Leaves: solitary, basal, blade present at time of flowering, 2 – 6.5 cm long, 1.5 – 5 cm long, apex rounded to acute, base often cordate, bluish-green, glabrous; petiole to 6 cm long, sulcate
Inflorescence: flower solitary; bract 0.5 – 2.5 cm long, lanceolate, apex acuminate, purplish
Flowers: showy, pendent; calyx oblique, 1.2 – 2.3 cm long, 2 – 3 mm wide, pink; corolla pink; labellum ~ 2 cm long, inflated, saccate, not spurred, whitish with yellow tip, marked with reddish-brown, 3 rows of yellow hairs; fertile anthers 1, on underside of column, pollinia bilobed; column petaloid, suborbicular, 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 Labellum saccate, not spurred
3
2 Labellum not saccate, 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 cauline
7
6 Leaves basal
8
 
7 Pollinia parallel or nearly so; lip unlobed
Platanthera
7 Pollinia divergent; lip notched to three lobed
Coeloglossum
 
8 Labellum white, spotted with purple, calyx and corolla 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 to pseudobulb
Malaxis
11 Flowers white, cream, yellow or brown, occasionally tinged with green; pseudobulb 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