Yellow Lady's Slipper in the Black Hills

I spotted this dainty little beauty while hiking along the trail in Spearfish Canyon.
The Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) is a rather rare terrestrial orchid here in South Dakota but fortunately the environment in Spearfish Canyon is ideal for them. Plenty of moist, humus-rich soil that has plenty of limestone to maintain a "sweet" pH as well as plenty of overhead forest canopy to provide a protective shaded space.

This species remains rare and are considered an endangered population and thus are legally protected from collecting.
These orchids survive by utilizing a symbiotic relationship with particular soil fungi and transplants will mostly die or certainly not germinate if moved.
So I took only photos and hopefully this one little beauty will flourand spread.