Sunday, May 23, 2010

Rare Native Orchid: Pink Lady's Slipper

I knew when I saw this flower next to a creek behind my cabin it was something awesome... it has a presence that would have made Georgia O'Keeffe swoon with sexy flower delight! After some investigating, like asking peeps on facebook and calling friends to describe my find - " it's a pink flower on a tall stem that looks super sexual, almost like a guy's nutsack") I soon found out this was a rare endangered orchid, native to the Appalachian mountains & surrounding states.

Coooool! I have found a Pink Lady's Slipper (also known as the "moccasin flower", cause somebody thought it looked like a shoe because they couldn't admit what it really looks like)!
"The plant has two wide basal leaves that stay horizontal and a single stalk growing to about a foot high bearing the pink flower. Transplanting from the wild is strongly discouraged because of the rarity of the plant and the almost nil chances of success. New plants are difficult to start because of the need for symbiotic fungi in supping nutrients to the seed. It takes years for the new plant to develop leaves for supplying its own energy. " - briartech.com

In other words... LOOK but do NOT touch this pretty flower! Even if ya like to normally touch things that look similar to this. ;)
XoxoxoXXX

5 comments:

Lou Cheese said...

Georgia O'Keeffe would have seen the slipper much differently, because the vast majority of her paintings were a powerful sexual metaphor for a certain aspect of the female anatomy. She'd definitely swoon, but not because it looked like a man's nutsack--in fact quite the opposite. Think to yourself "pink lady's slipper" and take another look at it.

I say more power to her, and not just because she was born right outside of Madison. People should have a right to pursue their passions.

Miss Voodoo said...

Lou Cheese-
LOL. This is a case of bio-mimicry, right? Maybe in some abstract sense... a Lady's 'Slipper' and a man's 'nutsack' start to morph into a similar looking shape...
making this flower like the ultimate swoon worthy orchid.
Possibly pyscologists could use pictures of this plant to evaluate people's personalities when they ask them to say what it looks like. ;)

BTW -way power to Georgia O'Keeffe, she was ahead of her time and right on time!

Stephanie Rogers said...

Looks like labia to me :) Pretty awesome and bizarre flower.

Kittie Howard said...

Learned yesterday from blogger Cape Cod Kitty that there's an area on the Cape where the Ladyslipper grows in profusion. Locals won't tell where to protect the beauty. But you had the first pic!!!

Unknown said...

Come to Hyannis and Falmouth. I and the kids counted 33 today. But as locals we know to look but never touch. We tell everyone they're protected by state law. Don't know if it's true but they are delicate.