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| The Happy Alien plant - Calceolaria uniflora |
The Happy Alien plant - Calceolaria uniflora is a bizarre looking species of evergreen, perennial plant from Tierra del Fuego in the southern part of South America. Also known as Darwin's Slipper Flower ('slipper flower' is a generic common name for all species within the Calceolaria genus), Calceolaria uniflora was first discovered by Charles Darwin during his expedition around South America - the Voyage of the Beagle, 1831–1836. In fact this species was originally named Calceolaria darwinii but this has now been superseded.
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| The Happy Alien plant - Calceolaria uniflora |
Situated close to the south pole, Calceolaria uniflora is a cold-climate mountain species found in very exposed, well-drained sites. Its normal habitats are coastal and riverine sands and rocks, clearings in scrubland, peaty alpine fescue moorland, feldmark, clifftops and steppe.
Like other true alpine plants, Calceolaria uniflora have a shallow root system and grow tight to the ground reaching no more than 4-5 inches tall. The pouch-like blooms are about 2 inches long, and appear throughout the summer suspended from tall slender stems that rise from a rosette of small, tongue-shaped leaves.
The flowers are orange-yellow with varying amounts of deep garnet-red to bright chestnut freckling or shading in the throat and on the outside of the vertical lower lip. Each bloom has a white band across an open "mouth", with burgundy markings above and below it. The white section is offered out as though it is on a tray and attracts a local species of bird. The bird eats this section of the flower and in doing so collects pollen on its head. As soon as the bird eat from another flower it too becomes pollinated.
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