Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - September 1984

From occurring on a number of sites, mostly on the Carboniferous Limestone of North England, the Lady's Slipper Orchid is now reduced to a single plant which cannot produce seed for no other individual plant exists to ensure the necessary cross-pollination. However, scientists at Kew know of garden plants which they believe originate from wild stock and are embarking on a conservation plan in which the seeds produced by these cultivated orchids will be grown on a specially produced medium and the resulting plants used for re-introduction purposes, hopefully saving this beautiful and unmistakable orchid from extinction in Britain.