The distinctive yellow, pouch-shaped flower will stop you in your tracks if you’re lucky enough to find one. These rare, 7–24 inch tall, softly hairy beauties are deceiving though, if you’re an insect. Andrenid bees attracted by a sweet odor crawl into the “slipper’s” top opening, but the flower saves energy by providing no nectar reward for the hungry pollinator. The disappointed bee must exist through small openings beside anthers laden with pollen. It flies to the next orchid and is tricked again, and again, as it spreads pollen from flower to flower. The roots spread to form colonies of dozens of showy plants. Slipper orchids take up to 15 years to flower, and undisturbed rhizomes can live an estimated 95 years.

FLOWERS: June–July. Bright yellow lip pouch up to 4-inches high and long (10 cm) but highly variable in size, interior lined with red dots; 2 reddish-brown twisted petals spread to the sides; one reddish-brown sepal arcs above and two fused into one curl below the flower.

LEAVES: Alternate with sheathing bases. Blades 4–6 per stem,  broadly lance-shaped, 3 1/2–5 1/2-inches long (9–14 cm), 1 1/2–2-inches wide (4–5 cm); distinct parallel veins run the length of leaf, bottom surface covered with fine hairs.

HABITAT: Moist soils near streams, springs, and seeps, forest openings; pine, fir, aspen forests.

ELEVATION: 6,000–9,500 feet.

RANGE: Widespread across North America.

SIMILAR SPECIES: This is the largest orchid in NM. The smaller Calypso Orchid, Calypso bulbosa, has purple petals and a white pouch-like lip.

NM COUNTIES: Northern and western mountains in NM in mid- to high-elevation, damp, forested habitats: Colfax, Catron, Grant, Los Alamos, Otero, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos.