Volunteers Discover New Population of Rare Orchid Near Crandon

By Erin Gottsacker, WXPR Public Radio

A volunteer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ Rare Plant Monitoring Program found a new population of a rare orchid near Crandon.

Every year the DNR sends about 60 volunteers to locations around the state to search for rare plants.

The program recently released its 2020 annual report highlighting important discoveries last year, including the detection of a population of calypso orchid in a white cedar swamp near Crandon. The orchid is magenta with dark purple stripes and yellow hairs.

Kevin Doyle, the program’s coordinator, describes it as a fairy slipper.

“It has a lady slipper-like flower, an inflated pouch that kind of looks like a moccasin or a slipper. Then there’s light magenta petals that hang above it like a sun umbrella,” he said.

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