Hello everyone,

I am new to this. I am so happy to have found a forum where I can share my newly found interest in terrestrial orchids.
Just to give you a little backround...I bought a property last fall with the intention of building my home. The site is mostly hilly forest but a portion surrounding a large spring fed pond is very boggy. In mid May I was pleasantly surprised to find several groupings of c. parviflorum parviflorum growing on either side of a gravel driveway (first photo) in a damp area under Eastern White Cedars (I had no idea what they were at the time). Since then I have been exploring the boggy area at the bottom of the slope to see if I could find more. Yesterday I discovered a single plant which appears very different from the others and separated by about 500 ft. of woodland. It is clearly a Cypripedium but taller and with a hairier stem. I am thinking it may be a c. reginae or c. parviflorum pubescens. I visited the Purdon Conservation Area west of Ottawa a couple of weeks ago where a large colony of reginae (30,000 blooms) thrives (photo attached). This mystery plant looks similar but it's hard to tell without a flower to help identify it. Is anyone familiar enough with these orchids to be able to help? I suppose I could wait for next year but frankly I can't wait. Thanks for your input.

Marc

so pretty:heart::hi::welcomesof:

very interesting!!! could it be a natural hybrid? welcome to the site!!!

Great pics! Wait til it blooms and post pics of the plant in bloom.

These are beautiful and welcome to the forum!

Yes please keep us posted when it bloom. Welcome to the slipper orchid forum glad to have you here!

Very nice looking plants and flowers. Welcome.

Probably a parviflorum.

Probably a parviflorum.

:iagree: It looks like parviflorum v. pubescens to me.

Superb photography!

Welcome to a great forum!

Lovely plants and blooms...:welcomesof:

Very beautiful flowers!

Probably a parviflorum.

:iagree::iagree:

Looks like a parviflorum to me.

Keep us posted. I'm curious to know.

Beautiful plants!

Hi again,

I did a careful search of the area and I am reasonably confident that this single stem cyp is the one and only of its kind. I am trying to figure out why. I know the previous owner drained the pond about 3 years ago and had to cut a number of trees. My latest theory is that he must have altered the drainage enough for all the other plants to perish.
Just for fun I added some notes to an aerial view of a portion of the site. The large white circle is the area where the 30 +- cypridedium parviflorum parviflorum (small yellow lady's slipper) plants are. The bullseye is where the mystery cyp is. Any thoughts? Is is possible for a single plant to grow in isolation?

Marc

It's possible. How did you get that aerial shot? Is it something like Google earth map?

It's possible. How did you get that aerial shot? Is it something like Google earth map?
The aerial photo is from First Base Solutions (http://www.firstbasesolutions.com/), an aerial survey company that provides ortho imagery to paying customers. I believe they are the source for the Google Earth mapping data for Canada.

so nice:heart::Party::heart:

With nature anything is possible.

Very interesting and please keep us updated.

This is really interesting! I wonder if it is a new species evolving?

I'm interested to see what it turns out to be. Will you post pics of the flowers when it blooms?

I'm interested to see what it turns out to be. Will you post pics of the flowers when it blooms?
Rob, you can be sure of that!

The aerial photo is from First Base Solutions (http://www.firstbasesolutions.com/), an aerial survey company that provides ortho imagery to paying customers. I believe they are the source for the Google Earth mapping data for Canada.

Thanks for the info!

It's now June 11, 2011...nearly a year later and the plant is ready to flower and judging from the colour and shape of the bud, I am pretty confident it's a cyprepidium reginae. I'll post pictures soon.

Hello everyone,

I am new to this. I am so happy to have found a forum where I can share my newly found interest in terrestrial orchids.
Just to give you a little backround...I bought a property last fall with the intention of building my home. The site is mostly hilly forest but a portion surrounding a large spring fed pond is very boggy. In mid May I was pleasantly surprised to find several groupings of c. parviflorum parviflorum growing on either side of a gravel driveway (first photo) in a damp area under Eastern White Cedars (I had no idea what they were at the time). Since then I have been exploring the boggy area at the bottom of the slope to see if I could find more. Yesterday I discovered a single plant which appears very different from the others and separated by about 500 ft. of woodland. It is clearly a Cypripedium but taller and with a hairier stem. I am thinking it may be a c. reginae or c. parviflorum pubescens. I visited the Purdon Conservation Area west of Ottawa a couple of weeks ago where a large colony of reginae (30,000 blooms) thrives (photo attached). This mystery plant looks similar but it's hard to tell without a flower to help identify it. Is anyone familiar enough with these orchids to be able to help? I suppose I could wait for next year but frankly I can't wait. Thanks for your input.

Marc

Sounds promising! Looking forward to your pics.

That is very good news!

Great to hear that! Look forward to the pics!

Nice to hear.
We love to see flowers from nature,
keep us updated