On Sunday May 26, 2013, a group of us met at Eva Russell Chandler Heritage Preserve in northern Greenville County, South Carolina to see the federally endangered Mountain Sweet Pitcher Plant. This Carolina endemic is found in only a few counties in both North Carolina and South Carolina, and although it might be thought of as “locally abundant“, it is in no way secure in its botanical niche. Here is an image of this wonderful plant in full bloom:
A few weeks prior to the field trip, I had received an email from Dr. Larry Mellichamp, a professor in the Biology Dept. at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Director of UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens. He and a couple of friends from California wanted to photograph some of our rare pitcher plant habitat. So, I agreed to meet him at Eva Russell Chandler Heritage Preserve where the rare Sarracenia jonesii or Mountain Sweet Pitcher Plant can be found. In the meanwhile, I talked it up to a couple of other friends, and we all planned to begin the day at one of South Carolina’s premier state Heritage Preserves.
Along for the ride were (left to right): Larry Mellichamp (Charlotte, NC), Jean Woods (Brevard, NC), Arthur Yin (San Mateo, CA), Victor Holland (Mebane, NC), Alan Cressler (Atlanta, GA), Gina Morimoto (San Mateo, CA), Walter Ezell (Greenville, SC), and yours truly – Jim Fowler (Greenville, SC). In case you are wondering, I’m holding the remains of a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich in my left hand, behind my back.
The hike down the mountain to the best of the pitcher plants at Eva Chandle HP is a daunting one, crossing a rushing cataract/cascade, fighting through cat briars, slipping on moss-covered rock, and dodging snags and fallen trees. Finally, we made it to that magical spot where four carnivorous plant species (Sarracenia jonesii, Drosera rotundifolia, Utricularia cornuta, and Utricular subulata) and three orchid species (in season) thrive in this rare habitat. It is a steep, open granite bald transected by a rushing cataract/cascade. This habitat is called a cataract bog. As the link states, “Cataract bogs are found only in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of the United States, at elevations of between 1,200 and 2,400 feet (370 and 730 m). They are restricted to the Blue Ridge Escarpment region of South Carolina and a small area of North Carolina, a region with exceptionally high rainfall.”
Here are some images that show the environmental conditions that support these rare plants:
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They are managing to hold on to a very thin layer of sand/soil on top of a solid granite bald. If it were not for the constant supply of cool, mountain stream water, they would literally bake in the summer sun. It is a truly amazing and fragile environment populated by plants that have carved out this little niche as their home.
Here are some shots of the field trip participants photographing the plants at this site:
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After spending an hour or so studying and photographing the plants, we scrambled back up the escarpment, loaded our gear, and proceeded to caravan to the next site. This is a location that is not known to many people. I have taken only a few souls into this extremely fragile site. It has many of the same flora as the bald at the public site at Eva Chandler Heritage Preserve, but it is a much smaller site and is a natural seep rather than a cataract bog.
At this seep site, we found many more plants of the carnivorous Utricularia cornuta, Horned bladderwort and Utricularia subulata, Zigzag bladderwort as well as an impressive population of Calopogon tuberosus, Common Grass-pink orchid. Here are some images of the brilliantly yellow (and sweetly fragrant) Horned bladderwort growing in just a couple of inches of sand/soil on wet granite:
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This last shot of Horned bladderwort also shows a few tiny, blue and white flowers of another wetlands plant called Lindernia monticola or Piedmont False Pimpernel.
In addition to the beautiful yellow and tiny blue and white flowers, there were hundreds of one of my favorite orchids growing in this wetland: Calopogon tuberosus or Common Grass-pink orchid:
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There are many color varieties of this beautiful, one-inch wide (2.5 cm) orchid at the site. The colors range from a dark magenta to a very light, rosy pink:
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And again, we find the field-trippers sprawled out on the rock, getting those perfect images:
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In that last shot (bottom right), it is easy to see that the center of attraction is a very large clump of Mountain Sweet Pitcher Plant. Here is what it looks like up close:
There is never enough time in the day to spend botanizing at any one particular site, and since we had one more place to visit (about 30 minutes drive farther north into the mountains), we reluctanly packed our gear and headed to the vehicles.
This next site is a little-known place called Cedar Mountain Bog in Cedar Mountain, Transylvania County, North Carolina. The 100+ acres of land containg a rare mountain bog, is protected by the efforts of the landowners and the Carolina Mountain Land Concervancy. This site contains both of the endemic Pitcher Plant species of the Carolinas: Sarracenia jonesii or Mountain Sweet Pitcher Plant, and Sarracenia purpurea subspecies venosa variety montana or Mountain Southern Purple Pitcher Plant. [I made up that last common name, since I do not believe it has been given a common name yet. If it has, dear reader, please let me know.]
The trip to the bog led us up through a winding mountain road, then through a locked gate, and then into the woods. We left our vehicles, gathered our gear, and proceeded down the trail a short distance to the bog area. Upon arriving, it was obvious where the plants of interest were, because there were dozens of orange survey flag markers here and there to show us where not to step. The Rhododendron, Mountain Laurel and other woody shrubs had been cleared around the plants giving them more light and a better chance to thrive.
The first plants we saw were the Mountain Southern Purple Pitcher Plants:
The one pictured above had very strong veining in the pitcher and hood. Other plants were almost solid green with little veining:
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The difference in color between those last two shots lies in the fact that the one on the left was taken in full sunlight, whereas the one on the right was taken in deep shade with the use of a slave flash.
Here are the beautiful, dark red flowers of the plant in the previous shot on the upper right:
The really exciting part of this leg of the field trip was finding the super rare natural hybrid between the two pitcher plant species at this bog. This hybrid is known as Sarracenia purpurea subspecies venosa variety montana x Sarracenia jonesii or by its hybrid name of Sarracenia Xcharlesmoorei. The small “x” in the name which lists both parent species and the large “X” in the second name both denote a cross or hybrid. As far as I know, this hybrid does not have a common name:
This hybrid presents physical features found in both of its parent species. It was the only one of the hybrid plants that we found at this site. Natural hybrids between these two species is exceedingly rare, due both to the rarity of the two species and the rarity of both plants occurring together at a single location. The plant had a flower bud, but it was a few days from opening.
Finally, as the day was drawing down, our guide, Jean Woods from Brevard, North Carolina, pointed out several rare Hexastylis rhombiformis plants also known as French Broad Heartleaf or North Fork Heartleaf — both names coming from its nearness to the North Fork of the French Broad River. This is another extremely rare plant found in only a few counties in the Carolina Blue Ridge Escarpment:
The flowers are small, urn-shaped structures located at ground level. They are usually located under leaf litter which must be brushed aside in order to see the flowers.
I consider myself quite fortunate to be found in the company of such great botanist friends. Their knowledge of locations for rare plants in the Southeast is excelled only by their generosity in sharing that information with this amateur nature lover.
This brings to end another wonderful botanical trek into the wilds of the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains of North and South Carolina…
— Jim