Ram’s Head Lady Slipper

Ram’s Head Lady Slipper

As a watercolourist, Gale is drawn to all flora. As a Nova Scotian, Gale has seen these beautiful orchids in mixed forest and bogs in Hants County where she lived for awhile. They are also primarily pollinated by bees, another endangered species in Nova Scotia.

Ram's-head Lady Slipper is a small, herbaceous, perennial orchid of open forests. In Nova Scotia, this orchid is associated with gypsum bedrock and it is found in only six locations with only two to 500 individuals at each site. The species is at some level of risk over much of its range in Canada and Northeastern United States.

Demonstrated threats to this species include; gypsum mining, forestry and cattle grazing. Competition with exotic species, housing developments and ATV traffic are potential local threats.

Although numbers in the province appear stable at present, over the past 75 years, there has been considerable loss of habitat due to gypsum mining and other types of land conversion.

Don’t pick them or pull them up. They are rarely a single plant but connected through an underground rhizome.

Watercolour

6 ½” x 9 ½”, Double archival matted & framed to 11” x 14”