Nature Essays
Small Treasures
I feel the same way about the pink lady slipper, sometimes called the pink moccasin flower. In many areas, it is a rarity. First, it takes years to grow to blooming size, and second, it is also limited to specific areas that have a particular fungus in the soil. Furthermore, ladyslippers dislike real darkness, so their forest cannot be too bright or too shaded. Today, house lots replace many such areas, so the flower’s habitat is shrinking.
I’m lucky. I live near a wooded area that contains exactly the right ingredients. Every year, I go there on a lady slipper hunt. Beginning in May, I start scouting for emerging plants. Some years, I have to slog through mud or poison ivy to get there. Most years, I have to visit several times before I am rewarded with the sight one leaf or flower. But even a few leaves will excite me, because they signal the start of the blooming season. For the next few weeks, I take my camera into the woods and literally crawl around on thick pine needles, enjoying the sight of these flowers. I would wallow in them if they weren’t so delicate. I love their downy fuzz, their pink pouchy parts, and the intricacy of their construction.
I’m lucky. I live near a wooded area that contains exactly the right ingredients. Every year, I go there on a lady slipper hunt. Beginning in May, I start scouting for emerging plants. Some years, I have to slog through mud or poison ivy to get there. Most years, I have to visit several times before I am rewarded with the sight one leaf or flower. But even a few leaves will excite me, because they signal the start of the blooming season. For the next few weeks, I take my camera into the woods and literally crawl around on thick pine needles, enjoying the sight of these flowers. I would wallow in them if they weren’t so delicate. I love their downy fuzz, their pink pouchy parts, and the intricacy of their construction.