Ram's head lady's slipper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Ram's head lady's slipper |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Cypripedium
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| Species: |
arietinum
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The Cypripedium arietinum, also known as the ram's head lady's slipper, is a very special and rare orchid. It likes to grow in places that are a little bit shady. It also needs soil that has a lot of calcium in it.
You can find this unique plant mostly around the Great Lakes in North America. It also grows in New England. In Canada, it lives from Quebec all the way to Saskatchewan. There's even a small group of them far away in Nova Scotia. These Nova Scotia plants grow on soil made of gypsum, which is about 330 kilometers from the closest group in Maine!
Contents
What Does This Orchid Look Like?
The ram's head lady's slipper is a small plant. It grows from about 10 to 40 centimeters (4 to 16 inches) tall. It is a herbaceous perennial, which means it's a plant that comes back year after year. It does not have a woody stem.
This plant usually has three leaves. Sometimes it can have four or five. Most of the time, each stem has only one flower. But some plants can have two flowers on one stem.
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Flower Details
The flower is a pretty purplish-red color. It has light lines, like veins, and its "lip" (the front part) is white. The flower has three petals. One of these petals is shaped like a pouch. This pouch is covered in tiny hairs and has white and purplish marks.
The sepals are green with reddish-brown spots. Sepals are like small leaves that protect the flower bud. The side sepals are a bit twisted. They are long and narrow. This is different from other similar plants in North America. The other sepal is wider and more oval-shaped.
This orchid blooms in May and June. It's a beautiful sight to see!
Where Does the Ram's Head Lady's Slipper Live?
This special orchid likes to grow in forests. It lives under the trees, in places where the sun doesn't shine too brightly. You can find it in forests with pine trees or mixed forests. It also grows in wet, swampy areas called bogs.
Favorite Trees and Soils
In bogs, it often grows near trees like northern white cedar, tamarack, or black spruce. It likes to grow on small bumps of Sphagnum moss.
More often, you'll find it in higher, drier forests. Here, it grows under trees like red pine or jack pine. It prefers soil that is slightly acidic, or almost neutral. This soil can be made of loam (a mix of sand, silt, and clay) or just clay. Sometimes, it even grows in sandy soils.
Why Is This Orchid Rare?
The ram's head lady's slipper is very rare. In some places, it's extremely rare!
Where It's Threatened
- It is rare in Ontario and Manitoba in Canada.
- It is considered a threatened plant in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Saskatchewan.
- It is thought to be completely gone from Connecticut. This means it used to live there but doesn't anymore.
- It is an endangered species in Nova Scotia.
It is very hard to grow this orchid in a garden. It usually does not survive if you try to move it from the wild. Because it is so rare and special, you should never take this plant from its natural home. We need to protect it so it can keep growing in the wild!
See also
In Spanish: Cypripedium arietinum para niños
