Calypso orchid
Something very special happened today. I was contacted by a person who asked if I’d be interested in photographing the fairy slipper, or calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa). Say what?! This orchid is very rare and I had known that it was borderline possible that there was one place nearby where they might be growing, but my intel was years old and I was sure that they’d be gone by now. This is the southernmost location for the flower in Sweden, but it doesn’t really get common anywhere in this country. Anyway, suffice it to say that I was indeed interested in seeing this flower. I mean, nevermind photography, just to see it. Imagine my amazement at seeing these flowers in surprisingly big numbers, there on the forest floor. This has got to be the most exciting flora encounter in my history as a flower photographer (or, ever)! It was late evening, overcast weather and dark forest so I was shooting at ISO 1600, cue lots of noise in the image. I don’t care. These could be the worst photographs I’ve ever taken. It doesn’t matter - I got to see the calypso orchid. It doesn’t get better than this!
White variant of the normally pinkish orchid, Wikipedia has more infoCaltha palustris multiplex
The mystery flower in the previous post has been de-mystified. It’s a double flowered marsh marigold, Caltha palustris ‘Multiplex’. I have a colleague who is a garden enthusiast and she immediately pegged it as a marsh marigold and found me a link to a site with pictures of this flower. I’m rather pleased with myself, because initially when I saw the flower I thought it might be related to the marsh marigold, but both Den nya nordiska floran and Den virtuella floran only listed one species in the Caltha genus so I dismissed my hunch.
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Thank you everyone who tried to help me with the ID! Not easy with a partial close-up shot…
