Day trip into Northwest Georgia — Part 2 – Lots of Spring wildflowers — 2014-04-05

Take a long, deep breath because this is a fairly long blog entry…

This blog post is a continuation of the previous one which just covered the Trillium species that I photographed on Saturday’s trip into northwest Georgia. Although photographing five new (to me) species of Trillium was the main reason for the trip, I will never turn my back on a dozen additional spring wildflowers. These areas in Georgia are quite rich in rare species as are many areas in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. I’m really fortunate to live close enough to these sites that I can visit them, spend several hours studying and photographing them, then return home in time to get a full night’s sleep.

The first site we visited was Cross Plains Flatwoods near Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia. The big attraction at that site is the rare, Trillium pusillum var. georgianum or Georgia Least Trillium. But, I was soon to find out that another unusual plant also grows there — Arisaema triphyllum subspecies pusillum or Dwarf Jack-in-the-Pulpit. Here are a couple of shots of this strange flowering plant:

These little fellows are only about 5 inches (~13 cm) tall, and would be easily overlooked. But we saw dozens of them popping up in the boggy forest floor.

The next location we visited that had some interesting wildflowers was Cedar Glade No. 3 in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Coosa County, Georgia. This whole region is underlaid by limestone, providing a basic/alkaline soil composition for many plant species that are not found elsewhere in this southeastern mountain region. In fact, several species grow here that are not found in any other Georgia locations.

One of these is Viola egglestonii or Glade violet. The flower is rather typical of almost any purple violet you would see, but the leaves are quite differnt. They are deeply lobed, much like those of Viola pedata or Bird’s-foot violet:

In one stretch of roadside, we found several other flowering species growing with the Glade violet. One of these is Leavenworthia exigua or Tennessee gladecress. It is found in only four states and is quite rare in Georgia.

Another plant species is found frequently in open, grassy meadows – even residential lawns that stay fairly damp. It is Claytonia virginica or Spring Beauty. We saw a lot of this pretty little plant. In fact, some of the meadows were almost covered with the Spring Beauty flowers. The leaves are slender lanceolate. This leaf feature will become important when we see its “cousin” later in this blog post. Here are a few close-up shots of the plants:

The third flowering plant that was quite evident in the same location was Ranunculus hispidus or Bristly Buttercup. It has glossy yellow petals and is only about 3 inches (7.5 cm) tall:

There was one other flowering plant in association with the above mentioned species, and it is one that I would probably not have photographed except for its pollinator. The plant is Taraxacum officinale or Common Dandelion. The pollinator is Sparmopolius fulvus commonly know as a Bee fly. These tiny insects are quite harmless to humans although they carry an evil looking proboscus on the front of its head. It looks much like a stinger, but it’s not:

From the Battlefield location, we headed to our final stop: Pigeon Mountain and “The Pocket”. This place is so fantastic that it is almost impossible to describe with words only. I don’t know how many wildflower species can be found at this wonderful mountain cove site, but they must number near a hundred or so. But before we went to “The Pocket”, we visited the other side of the mountain for some Trillium species. While we were there, we saw a number of other pretty flowering plants.

After parking just off the gravel road, we unpacked our gear and headed up the mountain through the open woods. Just after entering the woods, we found a sweetly fragrant blue flower, Phlox divaricata or Wild blue phlox. During our visit to this side of Pigeon Mountain, we would see a number of clumps of this plant:

As we gained altitude, we began to see a surprising number of one plant species I had never seen before, Jeffersonia diphylla or Twinleaf. Alan had never had the opportunity to photograph it in bloom and had hoped to see the flowers on this visit. But it was not to be. Almost all of the plants had bloomed — probably a week or so prior to our visit — which was apparent, since there were many examples of the strangely shaped, ripening fruit in the large population of plants. Here is a shot of the unusual looking leaves:

In among the leaves, we found many examples of the strangely shaped fruit:

As I was photographing these plants, Alan, Max, and Steve were busy looking for other stuff. After a while, Steve called me on my cell phone to tell me to join them farther up the mountain (they had been out of sight for a while). So, I packed up and headed in their direction. Steve met me halfway and pointed out another very rare species for Georgia, Aesculus glabra or Ohio buckeye. Normally, the flowers are so high in the tree canopy that it’s difficult to get a decent shot of them. However, a larger tree had fallen and taken the Ohio buckeye with it. It did not result in killing the Ohio buckeye, but it did put it down on the forest floor with its flowers at knee level:

After I photographed this beautiful specimen, I looked uphill and saw Alan hovering over another species that I had not seen in the Eastern US, Camassia scilloides or Atlantic camas:

I was soon to discover that there was another glorious plant species in the immediate vicinity, Phacelia bipinnatifida or Fernleaf phacelia. This is an impressive plant, since it is about 2-3 feet (60-90 cm) tall and is topped with many clusters of purple flowers:

Later, we would find a huge population of this species at “The Pocket”.

Nearby, was a small population of the common Arisaema triphyllum or Jack-in-the-Pulpit:

It was getting late, so we decided that we had better head around the mountain to the main attraction, “The Pocket”. So we scrambled down the mounatain, packed our gear and headed back down the gravel road. After a couple of miles of driving, we forded a small creek and parked the car in the parking lot. I had never been to “The Pocket”, but I have heard a lot of talk about how spectacular it is. I’m excited about seeing a natural garden of blooming wildflowers.

So, we walk down the dirt path and soon come to a boardwalk that is raised a couple of feet over a creek’s flood plain. The creek was downstream of the waterfall at the far end of the mountain cove. Almost immediately, there we saw a profusion of blue and yellow on boths sides of the boardwalk. These were thousands of sky-blue Mertensia virginica or Virginia bluebells and intense yellow Stylophorum diphyllum or Celandine Poppy also known as Wood Poppy. Here are some shots of the Virginia bluebells:

Oddly enough, when the flowers are still in the bud stage, they are bright pink. As they begin to open, they turn a brilliant sky blue.

Here are some shots of the Wood Poppy, which is very rare in Georgia:

Man! If the rest of the trail is as spectacular as what we have seen at the beginning, I’m not sure I can handle it! 😉 So, we slowly proceed down the trail toward the waterfall, enjoying the assault of bright colors at every turn. I had to be careful not to ignore the tiny flowers beside the trail at my feet. There were a couple of Viola species that deserved some photography work — the white Viola canadensis or Canada violet and the yellow Viola pensylvanica or Smooth yellow violet:

In among the towering Trillium plants, we found an Actaea pachypoda or Doll’s-eyes also known as White baneberry just starting to open its flowers. All parts of this plant are toxic, but especially the white berries that appear in the fall, showing a blue spot on the tip — thus the common name, Doll’s eyes:

Near the Doll’s eyes was a fairly common plant of such basic coves, Caulophyllum thalictroides or Blue cohosh. You can read about the interesting medical uses of compounds made from Blue cohosh here. Here are some shot of this plant and its flowers:

At the base of a tree next to the trail were a number of the paper-white Thalictrum thalictroides or Rue Anemone:

Just up the hill, we saw several Dicentra cucullaria or Dutchman’s breeches. It’s easy to see how they got their common name, since the flowers do resemble a pair of inverted breeches:

Remember early on in this blog, where I mentioned that I’d show you the “cousin” of Spring Beauty? Well here it is. It’s called Claytonia caroliniana or Carolina Spring Beauty. The major difference is in the leaves. Typical Spring Beauty has narrow, string-like leaves where as Carolina Spring Beauty has wider, oblong leaves:

Steve took little time in pointing out a special little flowering plant called Mitella diphylla or Twoleaf miterwort. The fascinating thing about this tiny, 1/4-inch (6 mm) flower is that it looks like a tiny snowflake close-up:

Wow, what an evolutionary model for this flower…

We are just about at the waterfall when I see a familiar plant, Tiarella cordifolia or Heartleaf foamflower. I have photographed it on several occasions in South Carolina, and I am always pleased to see it in bloom:

Just at the falls, there is a huge population of a species that we had photographed on the other side of Pigeon Mountain, Phacelia bipinnatifida or Fernleaf phacelia:

We spent a bit of time at the falls, then headed back down the trail to the car. Upon reaching the end of the trail, Steve pointed out a group of Uvularia grandiflora or Largeflower Bellwort. Although the color of this group of flowers was not as strongly yellow as the ones I’ve photographed in North Carolina, they were stil lovely to see:

Sigh… What more can I add to such a special day at a special place. I’m going to have to make it a point to visit this location in the future. I’m sure that there are additional plant species that will be blooming in the next few weeks, so just about any time in April will be right for photography.

–Jim