''Calceolaria uniflora'' ( syn. ''Calceolaria darwinii'', known as Darwin's slipper) is a

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

of the genus '' Calceolaria'', known as the slipperworts. It is originally from

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...

in the southern part of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. ''Calceolaria uniflora'' is a mountain plant growing only to 10 cm (4 in) tall. The flowers are a compound of yellow, white and brownish red. ''Calceolaria uniflora'' is an ornithophilic plant and is pollinated by the least seedsnipe. The seedsnipe eats the conspicuous white floral appendage on the lower lip of the flower, which is high in sugars. While the seedsnipe pecks at this appendage, the stigma and anthers of the flower tap the head and back of the seedsnipe distributing and receiving pollen, ensuring that pollen will be transferred to the next ''Calceolaria unifora'' that is visited by the seedsnipe.

Gallery

Calceolaria_uniflora_-_Flickr_003.jpg Calceolaria_uniflora.jpg Calceolaria_uniflora.JPG Sand Ladys Slipper (Calceolaria uniflora) (5501043003).jpg Virgin's Slipper.jpg

References

Bibliography

* *Sérsic, A. N.; Cocucci, A. A. (1996). "A Remarkable Case of Ornithophily in Calceolaria : Food Bodies as Rewards for a Non-nectarivorous Bird*". Botanica Acta. 109 (2): 172–176. doi:10.1111/j.1438-8677.1996.tb00558.x. *Candeias, Matt. (2021). ''In Defense of Plants''. Mango. 88–89. uniflora Flora of southern Chile Flora of South Argentina Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Plants described in 1791 {{Lamiales-stub