“White” Day — Brantley County in Southeastern Georgia — 2016-06-13

In previous blog reports, I’ve written about a “Pink” Day and maybe a “Blue” Day, but this was definitely a “White” Day. White wildflowers were abundant during this trip, so that’s what I will show you.

Recently, my good friends from Pennsylvania, Bob Sprague and Amy Levengood, contacted me about an orchid species I had photographed in southeastern Georgia — Gymnadeniopsis nivea or Snowy orchid. The last time I had visited that location was on June 16, 2012. That was 4 years ago, but I could think of no reason that the flowers (thousands of them on that day) would not be present in the shallow, wet ditches north of Folkston, Georgia. Since I had not written about them in my blog (which had its inaugural issue on January 20, 2013), I decided it was time for an update. So, I told Bob and Amy that I would be joining them down there on Monday, June 13.

The 5-hour trip down was anything but pleasant. It was hot, Hot, HOT – 108 degrees F (42 degrees C) with 88% humidity – giving a temperature heat index of 121 degrees F (almost 50 degrees C)! Here is an iPhone image I took of my dashboard while stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Interstate 95 in South Carolina, near Savannah, Georgia:

Hot temperature on the Interstate Highway in South Carolina

This turned out to be a 6.5 hour trip, and I was wilted when I finally checked into my motel in Brunswick, Georgia. Even though I was weary from the drive, I unloaded the truck, freshened up a bit, and proceeded to drive west to scout the area for the Snowy orchids. I will add that we ended up spending all of our field trip time in Brantley County, Georgia.

It was getting dark by the time I reached the area, and I had time to take only a few shots of two species of wildflowers. The first of these was a Hymenocallis species or Spider-lily that was blooming in a roadside ditch:

The white portion of the flower is about 2 inches (5 cm) across — a fairly large flower, to be sure. Growing in the roadside ditch, they were quite easy to spot. Add to that, the bright yellow stamens and greenish-white sepals make this is a magnificent wildflower.

Just a few feet away, growing at the woods line, I spotted a single white flower. It turned out to be a species which I had seen for the first time only a short time ago in the panhandle of Florida. It was Ruellia noctiflora or Night-blooming Wild Petunia. I had looked for this rare species when I was in the immediate area 4 years ago, but did not find them. Perhaps it was because I was searching for them in the middle of the day when the flowers would not be open:

When I saw these two species, I had just driven more than 50 miles (80 km) searching for the Snowy orchid in areas where we had found it in large numbers in previous years. Today, there were none to be found — not a single orchid flower. Apparently, the habitat (wet, roadside ditches) had been closely mowed by the county mowing crew a couple of weeks prior to our trip. I was beginning to sweat bullets, because I had led Bob and Amy to believe that there “should” be large numbers for them to study and photograph. They had driven all the way from Pennsylvania, and I did not want them to be disappointed.

The sun was setting, and I had to go to Plan B. There was supposedly another location for Snowy orchid about 30 miles (48 km) away from my current location. I had been told about this spot 5 years ago by a photographer friend, Larry Lynch, who lives in Virginia, but I had never had the need to visit it. As I neared about 10 miles (16 km) from the area, the sun had set, and there was the magical twilight that happens just after sunset. I was straining to look for tiny white spikes sticking up above the grasses that were on the far side of a 15-foot (~5 meter) mowed roadside strip. Finally, I neared a wet area, and there they were! I had found about 50 spikes of orchids in full flower. I jumped out of my truck and ran across the highway to verify my find. By then it was 8:30 pm, and there was very little light left — but just enough to make sure of my sighting. I made a mental note of the location and drove back to the motel, feeling a huge wave of relief that Amy and Bob would finally see this orchid species.

Early the next morning, we met at my motel in Brunswick (they had spent the night in Savannah, about an hour and 15 minutes away) and decided to pile into their SUV for the day’s trip into the field. We headed toward last night’s find which was about a half-hour away. I cautioned them to drive slowly, because there might be more orchid specimens in areas along the highway — areas that I was unable to check because of darkness. We finally made it to the orchid spot, not having seen any other orchids along the way.

We gathered our camera gear and headed across the mowed portion of the ditch to the several patches of Snowy orchids:

It turned out that most of these specimens were a bit past peak bloom, but we took a bunch of images anyway because of the “bird-in-the-hand” rule. We might not find any more of them…

We finished at this site, packed our gear and headed farther west. In just a few minutes, we spotted some more white spikes along the roadside. Bob pulled the SUV over onto the shoulder, and we once again gathered our gear and headed toward the orchids. These were in much better shape — some were still in tight bud. Here is a selection of images I took at this site:

Here is a shot of Bob and Amy photographing the orchids:

Scattered in the ditches all along this road were large numbers of a tiny white flower. I didn’t fully key it out, but I’m thinking it is Rhexia parviflora or Small White Meadowbeauty Update – 2016-06-15: I’ve been told it is Rhexia mariana var. exalbida or the white form of Maryland Meadowbeauty. These 3-4 inch (7.5-10 cm) tall plants were a common sight in all of the areas we visited on this field trip:

If you, Dear Reader, think I have miss-identified this one or any of the featured wildflowers, please don’t hesitate to speak up. I want to be sure that I’m providing correct information.

In the wetter portions of the ditch, we noticed another white flower. This one is Sagittaria graminea or Grass-leaved Arrowhead. Many of the Sagittaria species have leaves that resemble arrowheads, thus the common name, Arrowhead. This particular species, however has long, linear-shaped leaves. According to several references, an interesting thing to know about this species is the fact that they may be either monoecious (having male and female reproductive organs on the same plant) or dioecious (having the male and female reproductive organs in separate plants). The ones that we photographed were dioecious and easy to differentiate. Image of male flower on the left and female flowers on the right:

Also at this site, were numerous clumps of a curious plant with 2-foot tall (60 cm) flower stems known as Eriocaulon decangulare or Hat Pins:

From this site, it was not far to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, known as the largest blackwater swamp in North America. Bob had visited there many years ago when he was in the Navy, and he wanted to see if it had changed. As we made our way to the North entrance, we passed by a group of large, white flowers. I had seen a few of these the day before, but Amy had never seen this lily species, so we stopped for a few photographs. It is Zephyranthes atamasca or Atamasco Lily. It is also known as a Rain-lily. Although these foot-tall (30 cm) flowers last but a single day, these were still in pretty good shape:

Here is a shot of Bob and Amy having their way with the Atamasco Lilies along the highway:

On the access road to the Okefenokee, Bob spotted a stretch of roadside shoulder with a number of (you guessed it) white flowers scattered in the ditch. These white flowers turned out to be a species that is fairly common in the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain, but rare in Bob’s neighboring state of New Jersey — Triantha (Tofieldia) racemosa or Coastal False Asphodel. I didn’t photograph these, but I do have an image of this species from a previous visit to the coastal plain:

While Bob was photographing the Coastal False Asphodel, I was busy with a Spiranthes tuberosa or Little Ladies’-tresses orchid. Although the flowers were just about spent, I was really excited to find this one, because I had not seen it for about a dozen years:

We were just about to wrap up the day when we spotted a large tortoise crossing the road. I knew this one was a rare and federally protected, Gopherus polyphemus or Gopher tortoise. It is a wonderful creature which digs a deep (from 3-52 feet long and 9-23 feet deep — 1-16 meters long and 3-7 meters deep) burrow in the sandy soil of longleaf pine savannahs. Its burrow provides shelter for as many as 350 other species, especially when the forest is burned, and is therefore referred to a keystone species. The adult bad boy that we saw was about 1 foot (30 cm) long:

The Gopher tortoise grazes on grasses, mushrooms, saw palmetto berries, and prickly pear cactus pads, fruits and flowers, as well as blackberries, blueberries, gopher apples and other low-growing fruits. They can live up to 80 years in the wild. This one seemed to be rather nonplussed at our presence, but we didn’t want to linger and perhaps disturb his activities. We quickly got our pictures and then left him to go about his business.

This completes the report of a fantastic field trip in southeast Georgia. I’m sooooo glad I was able to locate some of the orchid species that Bob and Amy drove so far to see and photograph. It doesn’t always work out this way, but this day was a very successful one for us. It helps to have a Plan B in case Plan A doesn’t materialize.

The next few months should bring more orchid forays to the blog with a special trip to Arizona in August for several orchid species I’ve never had the pleasure to photograph. Stay tuned…

–Jim