Britain's Disappearing Wildlife - Lady's Slipper Orchid

The large, maroon and yellow flowers of the Lady’s slipper make it quite unlike any other British orchid. Its natural habitat is woodland. Today it is an extremely rare plant.

Reasons for decline - large areas of natural woodland have been cleared, particularly during the last century, and many of the plants which grew in them have become rare or extinct. The beautiful Lady’s slipper is one of them and now only a few plants grow at one site in Yorkshire. Many of them were dug up by collectors in the past.

The future - the one and only site where the plants grow must be kept secret and carefully protected. It is a criminal offence for anyone to uproot any wild plant without permission of the landowner, and, in the case of extremely rare plants such as the Lady’s slipper, it is illegal to collect any part of these, even the seeds. If anyone is caught doing so, they may be fined. It is very important to protect the habitats where rare plants grow.