Botanizing in the mountains of Georgia and North Carolina — Part 2 — 2014-06-15

We continued on our way into the mountains of extreme northern Georgia. Our next stop would be a wet meadow on Chatuge Lake in Towns County, Georgia. This is a Nature Conservancy protected area with restricted access because it is the site of a federally endangered pitcher plant, Sarracenia oreophila or Green Pitcher Plant. Fortunately, a member of our group had permission to let us in to photograph the plants and their habitat.

Another reason to go to this site is to see Platanthera lacera or Ragged Fringe orchid. I have visited there on a few other occasions, but the orchid was either past peak bloom or a few weeks before blooming. Today, we saw a dozen plants in full flower. However if we had waited much longer, we would definitely have missed them. Some of the plants were in the middle of the meadow, growing in full sunlight. These would probably have been better subjects a week or so ago, but the flowers on the top of the inflorescence were still in fairly good shape:

Here is another shot of one of the plants in the meadow:

I think we were all hoping for more photogenic plants, but these would certainly be OK.

Nearby, were small purple flowers nestled in the meadow grasses. These turned out to be Polygala incarnata or Procession Flower also known as Pink Milkwort. This species was named Procession Flower for a very good reason — the flowers open only a few at a time beginning at the bottom of the inflorescence, working their way up until the last buds are open at the top of the inflorescence:

In the adjoining meadow, we found another Milkwort called, Polygala curtisii or Appalachian Milkwort:

The separate flowers of both of these Milkworts are exceedingly small, being less than 1/10 inch (~3 mm) long, so macro photography was definitely needed.

In order to see the endangered Sarracenia oreophila or Green Pitcher Plants, we would have to fight our way through a section of dense woods and briars. Just as we were about to enter the second meadow, there was a perfect specimen of Platanthera lacera or Ragged Fringed orchid, blooming in the dappled light of the woods. We all took turns photographing this beauty from every angle. The flowers of this particular plant were not as densely packed due to its growing in dappled sunlight. This made for better isolation of the flowers in the photograph:

To give you some sense of scale, I managed to capture a shot of one of our party taking an image of this plant:

So we finally were able to leave the woods and enter the second savannah. Here, we found many clumps of the rare Green Pitcher Plant. I had photographed these same plants earlier in the year, and you can see images of the beautiful yellow flowers here. But on this visit, the flowers had passed, so all there was left were the stiff, green pitchers:

These pitchers are about 2 feet (~60 cm) tall, and only the top portions rise above the tall meadow grasses.

Well, it was time to head out to our final location, but on the way back to our vehicles, we passed many 4-foot (1.2 meter) tall shrubs loaded with light pink flowers. I knew it was a species of wild rose, but I had to ask one of the botanists that was with us to identify it for me. He indicated that it was Rosa palustris or Swamp Rose:

There were dense growths of this shrub, and there were dozens of flowers on each plant.

We finally made it to our vehicles and packed our gear. One of the group had said that he had found an undescribed Rhododendron species or Wild azalea at a site called Buck Creek which is in Clay County, North Carolina. So off we go into the mountains of North Carolina. Since we were in extreme northern Georgia, the state line was only a couple of miles up the road. Soon, we were in North Carolina and heading down a narrow, gravel road.

Arriving at the site, we stopped and unloaded our gear. Just next to the road were several bright scarlet/orange plants growing in the grasses. The flowers belong to a plant called Castilleja coccinea or Scarlet Indian Paintbrush. These plants are semi-parasitic in that its roots will attach to and absorb some nutrients and water from the roots of certain other plants. Obviously, the common name came from its resemblance to a brush dipped in paint. The red portions you see are not the flowers, but they are actually colored bracts that surround the greenish-yellow flowers. From this web site, here is the legend of how these plants came to be:

The Paintbrush evoked the Native American legend of a young brave who tried to paint the sunset with his warpaints. Frustrated that he could not match the brilliance of nature, he asked for guidance from the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit gave him paintbrushes laden with the colors he so desired. With these, he painted his masterpiece and left the spent brushes in fields across the landscape. These brushes sprouted the flowers we now so wonderfully love!

While we were photographing the Indian Paint Brush, the group member who had mentioned the undescribed Rhododendron yelled out that he had located them. I thought that there would be just a few plants, but they were in large numbers, scattered all over the hillside. The fragrance was amazingly sweet, and I could smell them from more than a dozen feet (~3.5 meters) away. The plants are no taller than 2-3 feet (~1 meter), and remind me of Rhododendron atlanticum or Dwarf Azalea also known as Coastal Azalea. But this would have to be a disjunctly distributed population, since that species had been reported only along the Atlantic Coastal Plain. I had a subsequent discussion with a local Rhododendron expert, and he thinks it is Rhododendron viscosum variety montanum or Mountain Swamp Azalea. Here are some shots of this native azalea:

Scattered in and around these lovely native azaleas were large numbers of Hexastylis arifolia variety ruthii, aptly known as Little Brown Jugs. This particular species is known to propagate by underground stolens or runners, and at this site, it has managed to become something like a ground cover. It even grows in direct sunlight, unlike any of the other species of this genus which I have photographed. Here is a shot of the glossy green leaves:

The odd-looking flowers are always covered by leaf litter, and by careful removal of the leaves, you can expose the “little brown jugs”:

These small flowers are about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long and never completely open up like the flowers of some of the other species in this genus.

Near the patch of Little Brown Jugs, I spotted a fairly dense population of Galax urceolata or Galax also known as Wandflower:

While I was photographing the Galax, one of our group was startled by a mother Meleagris gallopavo silvestris or Eastern wild turkey flying off of her next in the bushes, thereby exposing a clutch of 9 large eggs:

I would have loved to have been there when that happened, since he said he was not sure who was more startled — him or the turkey!

It was getting to be late in the afternoon, and I had a 3-hour trip to reach home, so I said my goodbyes and headed on back to the truck. On my way back, though, I spotted a number of groups of strange-looking white flowers along the path. These flowers were oddly asymmetrical, but were still quite lovely. These were the 2-inch (5 cm) wide flowers of Gillenia trifoliata or Bowman’s Root also known as Indian physic:

Above these sparkling white flowers were the last of the Kalmia latifolia or Mountain Laurel:

I finally finish photographing the plants along the trail and loaded my camera equipment into the truck. On my way back to the main highway, I had to stop to photograph some beautiful pink-purple flowers that were growing next to the road. These are the flowers of Rubus odoratus or Purple-flowered Raspberry. I apologize for the lack of clarity in this shot, since another storm was approaching and the resultant strong wind combined with the darkness of the dense woods made for challenging circumstances:

As I sometimes do with my blog entries, I will end this with thankfulness of having such wonderful photography and naturalist buddies who are willing to trust me with their treasured wildflower locations. I hope I can repay them one day by taking them to some special sites that I can share with them. This trust was built over the years and it means the world to me. If they didn’t know this before, maybe they will know it now…

–Jim