Venus slipper orchid. Republic of Buryatia

The lady's slipper orchid, or Venus slipper (Latin: Cypripedium calceolus) is an ancient herbaceous plant belonging to the Orchid family. In Russia, this flower is also called Adam's head, Mary's slipper, cuckoo boots. It can be seen in the European part of our country, in Siberia and in the Far East. It is included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. On the territory of Buryatia, it is protected in the Barguzinsky and Jerginsky reserves, Zabaykalsky and Tunkinsky national parks.

According to legend, the name of the flower came from the slipper of Venus, the goddess of beauty. When Venus was running away from her pursuers through a swampy area, she tripped and dropped her slipper. This slipper miraculously transformed into the flower we now know as the Venus slipper.

This species is considered to be a representative of the most beautiful orchids of the northern regions of Russia. The slipper reaches a height of 20-25 cm, its stem is covered with short glandular hairs along its entire length. At the base of the stem there are 3-4 brownish scaly leaves with slightly elongated ellipse-shaped hairs. The leaf plates are light green on the outer side, the inner one is paler. In the axil of the lowest leaf there is a bud, from which a sympodial root develops.

The slipper flower is a trap for pollinating insects, which are attracted by the delicate smell and bright color of the plant. The pollination process of the common slipper orchid is very intriguing and exciting. The large yellow shoe-shaped lip is closed at the top by a shield-shaped staminodium. The edges of the lip are wrapped inward. Insects easily crawl into the slipper, after its examination they start looking for an exit. But the limited space does not allow them to take off, and the wrapped inward edges of the lip, its smooth inner surface and the staminodial barrier do not allow them to crawl out in a direct path. In the posterior wall of the lip there are areas of tissue formed by cells without pigmentation, well transmitting light - the so-called windows. The insect takes them for an exit and crawls in the indicated direction only to see the real exit to the outside soon: two narrow openings on the right and left.

As the insect climbs out of the flower, it first encounters a convex snout on its way out. The insect's thorax passes directly above it: the insect cleans the pollen it has brought with it on the snout. Climbing higher and closer to the light, the pollinator encounters another obstacle - the exit is narrow: it is difficult to squeeze past the anther, so most of the pollen is glued to the breast of the insect. Small and weakened insects cannot get out of the anther and remain in it forever. And those who are lucky enough to get free, tired and often wet after a forced bath in the rainwater accumulated in the slipper, for some time lose the ability to coordinated movement. But after resting, they fly to other flowers.

Despite such remarkable abilities, not all flowers are pollinated. In this regard, seed reproduction of the slipper is not frequently observed. In addition, symbiosis with a mycorrhizal fungus is required for seed germination, and the fungus is also necessary for the development of the plant in the first years of life. The first green leaf develops only in the fourth year, and the slipper blooms only in the 15th-17th year.

The population of the lady's slipper has largely suffered because of the beauty of the flower. The orchid has been plucked for bouquets and dug up to plant in gardens. The slipper's numbers are also declining as a result of changes or destruction of its habitat by logging and fertilizer application. Therefore, it is currently protected in 46 nature reserves and cultivated in 24 botanical gardens in Russia.