fairy slipper orchid (Calypso bulbosa)

The fairy slipper orchid (Calypso bulbosa) is a beautiful, pink wildflower of the boreal forest, blooming briefly each spring. Each plant produces a single leaf in autumn that overwinters under the snow, then sends up a single flower in spring if conditions are good. The elaborate lip petal is spotted and fringed with small yellow hair-like projections that mimic pollen-laden anthers, and the flower produces a sweet scent. The calypso orchid offers no actual reward to visiting bumblebees and relies on newly emerged, naive queen bumblebees that have not yet learned to avoid it. Bumblebees can learn to recognize and avoid the deception, so the orchid depends on a fresh crop of inexperienced queens each spring. In Ahtna: tuut'aan' means flower.