When Do Lady's Slippers Bloom? 0 9

Lady's slippers are an amazing plant that inhabits our forests. It belongs to the orchid family and is botanically named Cypripedium macranthon.

Like many orchids, the flowers of lady's slippers are strikingly beautiful — they are large, lilac or violet-pink, with a long and greatly swollen 'lip'. However, not everyone gets to see this wonder of nature, as the slipper only begins to bloom in its 18th year of existence.

This rarity of blooming is explained by the complexity of the orchid's life cycle. These plants cannot develop without a symbiotic relationship with fungal mycelium, as their seeds, lacking nutrients, are unable to germinate. The development of mycelium, in turn, depends on many factors, including active economic development and environmental pollution, which negatively affects their normal growth.