Cypripedium calceolus-picture heavy

[euplusia]

It's the season for our native lady slipper. So last sunday our group visited a habitat. There were some thousand plants from young seedlings to big clusters. Many plants grow -often in groups- at the edge of a forest in open underwood, and sometimes even in the nearby rough pasture. Never before I have seen such an abundance of Cypripediums.

[euplusia]

With a little patience you can study flies visiting the flowers and entering the shoe. But geez! some hungry crab spiders are already waiting there, protected by their camo colour. And the meal takes place in the shoe.

[silken]

Thanks for sharing! Such great pics.

We were going to have a group outing to see our native slippers. But the ticks are very bad this year and we opted not to.

[WhiteRabbit]

Wow! That's awesome!

[wintergirl]

Wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing.

[reliablefool]

What a cruel joke...luring me in with pictures of orchids and then BAM spiders. :P I really should go hiking more in my area and see what native orchids I can find.

[desertanimal]

Those are really cool!

[No-Pro-mwa]

outstanding. Thanks so much for sharing those pictures. Just wonderful seeing so many wild orchids.

[NYCorchidman]

What a sight!
Beautiful.

[RosieC]

Really lovely!