Showy Lady's Slipper

Showy Lady's Slipper

Nikon D70 18-70mm Zoom at 70mm
ISO 400, F13, 1/640th
July 02 2005
Taken mid-pm on a beautiful sunny day.
Flesherton, Ontario, Canada

Showy Lady's Slipper Orchids (Cypripedium Reginae). From Newfoundland to Manitoba, in the northeastern and northcentral U.S., and following the Appalachians southward, they stand 35 to 90 cm (1 to 3 feet) high and are topped by gorgeous pink-and-white flowers. They can live for 50 years, which they pretty well have to because their reproduction relies so much on chance: they can't self-pollinate and have no nectar to attract syrup-sucking bugs, so they have to live in the hope that wandering insects will blunder into them. For more go to: http://www.tourcanada.com/orchid.htm

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