University of Alberta Museums Search

Inflorescence solitary; flowers bilaterally symmetric, 3-merous; sepals 3, pale purple; petals 2, narrow, pointed, twisted; sepals and lateral petals alike, magenta, dark veins 3, narrowly lance-shaped, 12-25 mm long, ascend over the lip; lip sac-shaped, 15-20 mm long, whitish with purple markings, yellow-hairy inside; filaments and style form column; column convex, 8-11 mm long, lid-like anther below apex

Similar species: Arethusa bulbosa C. bulbosa may be easily confused with A. bulbosa, but may be distinguished by the sepals. C. balbosa has gently twisted sepals while the sepals of A. bulbosa more or less point sraight up. Unique Adaptations: The Bloom time and fragerences of the plant attract bumblebee queens for pollintation. Unfortunately for the queens, there is no nectra for a reward, but when the bees figure this out, the flowers have already been pollinated. Ethno-botanical uses: The indigenous peoples of British Columbia eat the slimy fluid (called “Salap”) inside the corms. The name comes from Greek Kalypso, a sea nymph in Homer’s Odyssey.

Alberta: Found in boreal and temperate areas; all over Alberta except for south-eastern corner CAN (BC, MB, NB, NF, NS, NT, NU, ON, QC, SK, YT); USA (AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, ME, MI, MN, MT, NH, NM, NY, OR, SD, UT, VT, WA, WI, WY)