Back to northeast Georgia – this time for Liparis liliifolia (Lily-leaved Twayblade orchid) — 2013-05-27

On Monday May 27, 2013, I met my buddy Alan Cressler at Wildhog Valley in Union County, Georgia. We had been to this particular site on a recent visit to photograph Isotria medeoloides (Small Whorled Pogonia orchid). Here is the link to the blog post that describes that trip. However today, we were hoping to find Liparis liliifolia (Lily-leaved Twayblade orchid) in bloom. We had seen it in bud, but were hoping that enough time had gone past to allow the buds to open.

Here is an image of the orchid in bloom:

There were actually two sites for this orchid that were very near each other, so we figured that if the plants were not in bloom at the first site, then they might be in bloom at the second site. This first site consists of open woods with a bit of sunlight filtering in through the trees above.

Here is what we saw at the first site:

So close, but “no cigar”. Bummer!

So, we got back to the car and headed a short distance to the second site. This second site consists of regenerating woods with lots of small, belt-high tulip poplar trees springing up in a fairly dense mass. That made it quite difficult to find the plants we were searching for. Having said that, soon we began to see other orchid plants: Galearis spectabilis (Showy Orchis) and Goodyera pubescens (Downy Rattlesnake Plantain orchid). Showy Orchis had already finished blooming and Downy Rattlesnake Plantain orchid would not be blooming for several months.

After a few minutes of tromping through the brush and carefully looking down, we began to see a few plants scattered here and there. Finally, we found several plants with open flowers! They could have used a few more days to have additional open flowers, but we were happy to find what we did:

We finished shooting this small group of plants and were soon on our way to photograph a rare plant on the side of a mountain about an hour away. Now, I’m really not a complainer, but when Alan said the climb was steep, I should have taken that as a warning! The site was Sosebee Cove in Union County, Georgia. It is a well-known wildflower location with a nice trail through the woods. But the flowers Alan wanted to photograph were in the other direction — and straight up the mountain. Soon, I found myself hanging on to trees in order to navigate over boulders the size of small houses. Well, that may be stretching it a bit, but the climb was quite difficult for me. Alan is like a mountain goat, and I had to keep asking him to slow down a bit so I could catch up and catch my breath!

As we neared our destination, Alan pointed up hill, and what I saw made the whole climb worthwhile for me:

This is a double-flowered Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum (Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchid). It was not the flower species Alan was chasing, but it provided an opportunity for me to photograph an orchid that I had not seen so far this season. It also gave me a temporary break from the climb!

It didn’t take very long to get the shots I wanted, and soon we were headed back up the mountain. It wasn’t long before Alan pointed to a cliff face and told me that the objective was on a flat area on top of the cliff. That was like music to my ears. He went on ahead to scout out the plants, and I followed at my own pace. When I arrived, he had found many of the plants he had been looking for, but only a few were in flower.

The species is Trientalis borealis (Star flower). For you folks who live in more northern climes, this is so common that it is probably considered a weed, but the site in Georgia represents what is probably the southernmost location for this species.

Here is what it looks like:

It’s quite easy to see how it got its common name… Interesting observation: Of the several plants with two flowers, one of the flowers had six petals while the other flower had only five petals. I wonder if this holds true for all of the double-flowered plants?

We finished our photography of this locally rare plant and began to head back down the mountain. Believe me, the way down the mountain was almost as difficult as the way up. The shoes I was wearing were just not getting a good grip on the leaf-covered rocks. Fortunately, I made it down in one piece, and I used our arrival back to the vehicles as a good excuse to eat my peanut-butter and jelly sandwich.

There was a final location that Alan had said might host additional Liparis liliifolia, so we had to check it out. The drive up to Young Harris, in Towns County, Georgia was nice — a tree-lined mountain road with very little sign of civilization. Finally, we arrived at our destination: Brasstown Valley Seep. I had visited this site during the fall of last year to photograph the wide variety of wildflowers that inhabit the seep, including but not limited to Spiranthes cernua (Nodding Ladies’-tresses orchid), Parnassia grandifolia (Largeleaf Grass-of-Parnassus), and the quite poisonous, Aconitum uncinatum (Southern blue monkshood).

Today however, our goal was to see if we could find Liparis liliifola. On a previous visit last fall, Alan had seen the leaves of an orchid that he thought might be either Liparis loeselii (Loesel’s Twayblade orchid) or Liparis liliifolia (Lily-leaved Twayblade orchid). The leaves of both species are very similar, and since the plants were not in bloom, it was nearly impossible for him to correctly identify the species. To find the former at this site would be quite a find, since it is a more northerly-growing species.

We crossed the thick vegetation of the seep under the power lines and made our way to the portion that begins to tilt uphill next to the woods. Soon, we began to see the paired leaves of what I thought to be Liparis liliifolia. We searched even harder and then found the first of several plants that had open flowers:

This orchid flower is quite interesting when viewed closeup:

The purplish lip is quite translucent, so much so that the sepals that are below the lip can be seen through the lip, itself.

When we looked around further, I found a three-leaved plant! This is quite unusual, since the plant usually has only two leaves:

Too bad that it was just in bud, but regardless, I was happy to have seen it in any state of bloom. Since it has three leaves, I suppose it should be called Liparis liliifolia forma trifolia. 😉

Well, the day was finally ending for me. We had found what we had searched for and even more. I had a two-hour drive ahead of me, and I was worn out. I have to admit though, it’s great hanging around with Alan, since he pushes me to increase my exercise and endurance. Soon, maybe I’ll be climbing up those steep hillsides like a mountain goat, too — can’t hurt…

— Jim