Lady’s Slipper Calypso & Morels.
In this post, I want to share three entries from the pamphlets they provide in the Yukon. The biodiversity up there is surprising considering the harsh, long, and dark winters. To view the source, click the title. The definitions are in the order they are shown in the gallery below.
“Morels have a distinctive honeycombed cap shaped like a Christmas tree. The ridges of the cap are fully intergrown with the stalk and do not hang over it. There is a great deal of variety in the shape and colour of morels. They fruit in spring, typically in areas recently burned by a forest fire.”
“This interesting-looking plant is found among the moss on shaded forest floors. It is appropriately named after Calypso, the sea-nymph daughter of Atlas in Greek mythology, whose name means “she who hides.” It is a delicate, fragrant, pinky-purple flower that sits above a spotted lip or “slipper.” Calypso is very susceptible to trampling as it has thin, fragile roots. It grows with the help of a fungus, so if transplanted, usually dies or rarely flowers again.”
“With their “brain-like” cap, False Morels are vaguely like true morels described above. However, the caps lack the ridges and pits of true morels and are wavy or undulating. A cross-section through the cap makes this distinction clearer. They can sometimes be found in the company of true morels, so care must be taken to distinguish between the two.”
