Minnesota State Flower: Pink & White Lady’s Slipper

The Minnesota state flower, Cypripedium reginae, is commonly known as the Pink and White Lady’s Slipper, Showy Lady’s Slipper, or occasionally, the Royal Lady’s Slipper. It’s certainly not a common wildflower, in part because of their pollination practices. Leafcutter bees such as Megachile melanophaea are one of the few pollinators. But a bee has to visit at least two flowers to pollinate one, and only gullible bees will visit more than one flower. The flowers deceive pollinators with a sweet, nectar-like scent, but they do not follow through on the promise of food. The bees enter through the large opening in the slipper and follow the guideline streaks of color past the pollen-bearing anthers and out through the back door, never finding the nectar. But the pollen is thick and sticky, so if the bee visits another flower, they will pollinate the next one as they follow the same path.