Finding Pink Lady's-Slippers

We did some hiking with our granddaughter this week. The first was a hike up the Cascade River in Cascade River State Park. The highlight of this hike for Addie was finding Pink Lady’s-slippers along the east side of the river. This is not the state flower but is one of the northern most growing orchids. Some of the other names that people use are Moccasin Flower and Stemless Lady’s-slipper.

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With the plentiful rain that we received this year, the white Bunchberry and yellow Clintonia flowers surrounded the Pink Lady’s-Slippers making the forest floor a virtual carpet of wild flowers.

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These two were almost like a matched set.

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As I was taking this close-up photo with my large 150-500 mm lens, a hiker came by and asked if I was photographing the flowers. I told him yes and he gave me a confused look. I explained to him that you could use a large telephoto lens to reduce your depth of field and completely blur out the background. You can see the results in this photo. I think he believed me, but he continued his bemused expression as he walked off.

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This wasp entering the lady’s-slipper gave me the opportunity to tell Addie about orchids having a front and back door. As listed in “Wildflowers of the BWCA and the North Shore” written by Sparky Stensaas he writes, “Our Pink Lady’s-slipper is cleverly designed for two small bees: leaf-cutting bees and mining bees. They are attracted by the mock nectar scent and squeeze into the slipper-like pouch to find the source. Once inside, the tiny bees eat the droplets off some hairs and they try to exit by the same door they entered, but the slippery walls and overhanging lip prevent escape."

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"Instead they must exit by the rear door where they are slapped on the back by the pollen-sack from the anthers. At the next lady’s-slipper the pollen sack is scraped off the bee’s back by the bristly stigma. Mission: Pollination accomplished!”

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The next morning it rained, so I returned to get a photo with the early morning moisture clinging to the pouch.

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