Botanizing in Jackson County, Alabama – Part 1 of 2 — 2015-04-03

Recently, I was invited to visit one of Alabama’s most impressive wildflower locations in Jackson County, but I turned it down since I had a previously scheduled trip to the well-known wildflower site in north Georgia called, “The Pocket”. Well, unfortunately that trip had to be cancelled due to a medical emergency of one of the participants, so I rescheduled the original trip. On Friday morning, I met Alan Cressler, Steve Bowling, and Brad Wilson in Atlanta, Georgia for a multi-stop trip to Jackson County, Alabama. We left bright and early heading to our first destination, Little River Falls in Little River Canyon National Preserve near Fort Payne, Alabama. One of the botanical items we wanted to check out is a small population of Sarracenia oreophila or Green Pitcher Plant. With Brad as guide, we found not one, but two sites for these rare pitcher plants. Unfortunately, they had not begun to come out of their winter hibernation, so there was not much to photograph. On the way back out of the Preserve, we stopped at an overlook for a couple of shots of the falls and the rapids below the falls:

Getting back on the road, we headed for Sand Mountain, Guntersville Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Reservation to check out a very unusual Trillium species called Trillium freemanii (in ed., sp. nov.). That last little bit refers to the fact that it is a species new to science (“sp. nov.”), and the name has not been solidly etched in stone, but it is waiting on its description being published (“in ed.”).

After seeing the plants in bloom, my first impression is that they are an ancient cross between Trillium cuneatum or Little Sweet Betsy (which we also saw at that location) and Trillium lancifolium or Lance-leaf Trillium which we did not see at that location. That’s just my $.02, since I am definitely not a Trllium expert. The color of the flowers is generally a dingy, greenish brown or bronze, but sometimes the Trillium cuneatum influence is stronger, and some of the flowers tend toward maroon. What is striking is the presence of the long, narrow petals as is seen with Trillium lancifolium. The foliage has the coloration of Trillium cuneatum, but the general shape of the non-overlapping leaves of Trillium lancifolium.

In any case, here are some shots of a representative sample of the plants we saw at this location. For more images, please go to my Flickr page and scroll down through the images:

Growing among the Trillium plants were a number of Uvularia grandiflora or Large-flowered bellwort. The color was quite pale for what I know of this species. I had to examine the flower closely to make sure it was not masquerading as one of its close relatives, Uvularia perfoliata or Perfoliate bellwort. Turns out that the flower color is strongest — a deep, golden-yellow — in those plants found in the higher elevations of the Carolinas; see here. Here are a couple of shots of the ones we found at the Trillium site:

Nearby, was a small group of Conopholis americana also known as American cancer-root or squawroot or bear corn. It is edible by humans, but I understand that the preparation is lengthy and the taste is rather bland:

Getting back on the road and heading west, we eventually stopped at a cave site known as Stephens Gap Cave in Stephens Gap Callahan Cave Preserve which is managed by the Southeastern Cave Conservancy. Access to this cave complex, which is said by some to be “one of the most beloved caves in the Southeast” is by PERMIT ONLY, and Alan had managed to secure the permit for the four of us. I want to stress the need for a permit, because those in charge will get their panties in a wad if they find your vehicle parked with no permit on the dash.

Now is a good time to mention that Jackson County, Alabama is ground zero for caves in the southeast. There are many thousands of significant caves (more than 4,000 I understand) that have been recorded and explored in Jackson County alone — some stretching for several miles underground. Today, we would be hiking the trail up to the Callahan Cave complex, and taking photographs of a wide variety of wildflowers along the way.

One of the first wildflowers we saw was Uvularia grandiflora or Large-flowered bellwort. These were quite similar to the ones we had just seen at the Sand Mountain Trillium location, however, I am a sucker for the bellworts, so I have to photograph these, as well:

Just up the trail were groups of the foamy-white Tiarella cordifolia or Foam flower and the bluish-purple Phacelia bipinnatifida or Fern-leaf Phacelia:

Two other white flowers in good numbers were the ubiquitous Thalictrum thalictroides or Rue Anemone commonly found in rich, cove forests in the Southeast:

and Nothoscordum bivalve or False Garlic also known as Crow Poison:

Finally, after a long climb (I’m not as young and fit as I ever was), we reached the entrance to the cave. Standing in front of the entrance, it was quite apparent that there was a very cool breeze rushing out of the cave — about 20 degrees cooler, in fact. Here is a shot of Steve and Alan down in the bowels of the beast:

What was really impressive was the view of two waterfalls that empty into the cave — one from 140 feet (43 meters) above, the other pouring out of the cave wall. Here is Brad Wilson setting up to photograph the sight — I can’t wait to see his shot of the falls:

We finally had to leave this magical place, and the best part of it was that it was downhill all of the way! 😉 Before we reached the vehicle, I was able to photograph another couple of Trillium plants, which I am not sure of the identification. I suspect that they are some version of the Trillium freemanii that we saw earlier, but I can not be sure. One was a strange shade of green and the other was the odd, bronzy-maroon color:

Just before reaching the parking lot, I spotted this odd-looking fungus growing on both sides of a fallen tree. Alan told me it was Urnula craterium or Devil’s Urn fungus — a species that he had photographed just recently:

We made it back to the vehicle and headed out to our final destination where we would gorge ourselves on Mexican food and spend the night in a barn. We were fortunate to see a number of strange wildflowers as well as some interesting sights and geological features. But nothing would prepare me for what was to come the next day. Stay tuned for Part 2…

–Jim