Recently, I had the privilege of joining my good buddy (and excellent wildflower photographer), Alan Cressler on a trip to a remote site in Clay County, Alabama for the rare, “candy-stripe” form of Spigelia marilandica or Indian Pink. Here is a range map of the species, compliments of Biota of North America Program’s (BONAP) North American Plant Atlas. As you can see from the image below, it is a widely distributed species in the Southcentral and Southeast states.
Indian Pink distribution range
In any discussion of color forms of a particular species, the typical color form should be mentioned first. In this case, it is one with a deep red corolla tube and bright yellow or yellow-green petals. Note that the color of the petals is deep, scarlet-red on the outside and yellow on the inside:
Indian Pink — typical color form
BTW, for this blog report, I’m mixing recent images with images that I’ve taken over the years while looking for photographic opportunities with this species.
In some cases, the petal color is more green than yellow:
However, in the case of the Clay County, Alabama beauties, the inner color of the petals is a delicate pinkish-tan with raspberry-red stripes! For a couple of years, since I found out about this population, I had wanted to photograph them. Yesterday, I got my wish. Here is a selection of images from yesterday’s trip:
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There was one plant that had a more muted color with some yellow on the petals:
It’s not every day that I get to see such a gorgeous color form on a not-so-rare wildflower species. Just last year, about this same time in May, we found an alba form in the north Georgia mountains — Murray County:
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The year before, in the same location, Alan had found a pink form, probably a cross between the alba and the typical form:
And finally, last year, I managed to find a single plant with green-and-pink-striped petals in Greenville County, South Carolina:
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So, I guess it pays to check out any Indian Pink population you manage to locate to see if there are any unusual color forms. Who knew this wildflower species had so many beautiful color forms?
Another wonderful day in the field with a good friend and lots of wildflowers. I’ve got some plans to visit a few new wildflower sites in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned…
–Jim
16 Responses
Oh my wow! Just wow! Thanks, Jim!
Beautiful and amazing colors!
Amazing photographs. Thanks for sharing! I love the different color varieties too. I have only seen Indian Pink one time, when I visited the Moody Forest. They were indeed incredible to witness. Georgia is a lot closer than Alabama for you, so you should consider a trip to the Moody Forest one day, if you haven’t been already. I loved it and only saw one other person all day. It has one of the last remaining old growth longleaf pine stands and the cypress trees are over 600 years old. Here’s a link to my post from the Moody Forest: http://www.lynnebuchanan.com/blog/2018/6/22/moody-forestcolor-images; http://www.lynnebuchanan.com/blog/2018/5/8/moody-forest-black-and-white-images-evoking-a-timeless-primeval-paradise
Thanks for the link, Lynne. Looks like a magical place! –Jim
Fantastic!
Jim this is stunning!! I had no idea there were so many color forms. Will be watching for those here!
Nice find(s)! Next time I run across them in east Texas I’ll see if any interesting forms of them are on display.
Thanks for these wonderful photographs! I love Pink Root and had no idea there were so many varieties!
Always a pleasure to read your comments and to study your photos. Thanks for the new discoveries, that’s what adventure and learning is about! Please keep the excellent posts coming!
Magnificent, Jim! One of our most beautiful wild flowers, named after Maryland, but long extirpated from that state. It also intrigues me that it is relatively common in South Carolina but apparently cannot cross the line into North Carolina!
Beautiful! You arrived at just the right time. Love the colors. Wish we had them in SC
Fascinating! Stunning detain and incredible beauty!
The green and pink-striped petals! Heart be still.
Thanks for the fabulous photos. I live in western Virginia and never had seen (or heard) of Indian Pink. But I stumbled upon some in the woods at Wakulla Springs, Florida. Great surprise!
Thanks for the overview and in depth comparisons. Simply gorgeous
A lovely study of this beautiful flower.