Slipper ( Cypripedium calceolus) or popularly – “slipper”, belongs to the Orchidaceae family. It grows in shady, predominantly deciduous (beech) forests with herbs, on their edges, clearings and shrubby slopes, mainly on limestone and soils with plenty of humus, from hills to mountain level. In Slovakia, it occurs from the White Carpathians to the Bukovské Hills.
In the Veľká Fatra, it occurs mainly in the northern part of the mountain range. Flowers begin to bloom here in the second half of May. This year, however, the blooming season is significantly delayed, due to the cool May and late snowfall.
Currently, the first flowers are starting to appear. It will bloom in the Veľká Fatra Mountains until the end of June. Depending on the altitude where the plants are located.
Shoeweed is a 13-50 cm tall perennial orchid. Simple, erect, fleshy wasp scaly at the base, grows from a short articulated creeping rhizome. It has 3-4 broadly eplipsy leaves with a pointed apex, alternately sessile and folded. One or two flowers 3-5 cm in size, growing from the axils of the bract, have a specific shape – a yellow lip, red-spotted inside with coloured veins, hairy at the base, similar to a shoe. The flower has 5 cm long brownish-red petals.
Pollinated flowers persist on the plant for a very long time, on the contrary, unpollinated ones wither quickly. The fruit is a capsule, confusion with another species is completely excluded in our conditions.
Due to its appearance, the slipper is a very attractive orchid and many ignorant people may be tempted to tear it illegally. However, after tearing off, the flowers wither very quickly… Therefore, let’s enjoy their beauty right on the spot and don’t try to pluck them and take them home with us. The memory of these beautiful orchids can be a nice photo. However, the principle applies here as well: Be careful where you step so as not to trample on the surrounding plants that have not yet blossomed. This is because not all the “bunches” may bloom at once.
An interesting fact about this species is that it blooms for the first time when it is about 10 years old! Its flower belongs to the so-called trap-shaped types of flowers for a really interesting reason. Through its distinctive yellow color and the shape of its slipper-like lip, the plant attracts insects (especially solitary species of bees). The latter, after falling inside the “slipper”, is forced to move so that pollination of the plant occurs. The catch and ultimately a certain way of use by the plant is the fact that in the case of the shoegrass, there is no energy “reward” in the form of sweet nectar for such forced pollination – the plant simply does not create it for its pollinators.
The slipper tree is a species of European importance and the social value of a single plant is estimated at €138. In Slovakia, it belongs to the category of vulnerable species and in the neighboring Czech Republic it is included in the category of highly endangered plant species in the Red List.
Like other species of our orchids, the embryo of the ladybug lives hidden for several years in the forest floor in a symbiotic relationship with fungi. The plant is thus completely dependent on the nutrition provided by these fungi. Therefore, every single transfer of plants from their natural forest environment to the garden ends with guaranteed death of the plants. The forest soil in the garden quickly mineralizes due to non-forest conditions (drought and direct sun play a role here), the layer of humus is lost from it, which can only be maintained in the forest thanks to a special forest microclimate. The humus layer owes it to the necessary shade and, above all, to the humidity conditions of the forest, which can never be achieved in the garden. In addition, with the transfer of plant root systems wrapped in forest soil and the subsequent mineralization and loss of the humus layer, forest soil fungi, on which the slippers are essentially dependent, will also die. The plants themselves become partially nutritionally independent only when they produce the first green leaves, which provide part of the necessary substances necessary for the existence of the plant through photosynthesis.
Text: Juraj Žiak, Jozef Limánek and Slavomírn Senk
Edit: ŠOP SR
