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

On Friday night, the four of us (Alan Cressler, Steve Bowling, Brad Wilson, and I) had been apprised of a severe thunderstorm warning and were eventually deluged with rain and small hail. The accommodation (the “barn”) was very cozy, even considering the hoard of lady-bug beetles that commonly over-winter in the area. Our hosts, H.C. and E.C. (up in the big house) had delighted us for hours with their fascinating stories and the history of the area. They were old friends of Alan Cressler who had made a number of plant surveys on their property over many years.

H.C. had deeded several thousand acres, including one of the richest wildflower coves in the Southeast, to The Nature Conservancy and had graciously invited us to experience the wildflowers in all of their glory. Even though the property is managed by The Nature Conservancy, it is private access only.

We arose on Saturday morning to a bright, blue-bird sky. Although this is not the best situation for outdoor photography, it certainly beat what we had experienced the night before. H.C. had given us loan of an old pickup truck, since the best wildflower spots were about four miles into the woods, reachable via a somewhat sketchy dirt road. I feared that the plants we were expecting to see the next morning would have suffered from the storm. Regardless, we loaded our gear into the truck and headed off up the cove with Alan driving, Steve sitting in the passenger seat, and Brad and me in the back of the truck with nothing to hold on to. Off we went…

Alan is really a pretty good driver, and he “attempted” to miss all of the potholes and large boulders, but it was quite the experience for the two of us in the open bed of the truck. As I said, the day was beautiful — 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) and not the slightest breeze. Alan had remembered a site for Cypripedium pubescens or Large Yellow Lady-slipper orchids a couple of miles down the road, but we all figured they would not be in flower yet. We stopped at that spot and walked into the woods, searching for signs of the plants. Alan was correct — the plants were showing, but they were several weeks from flowering. However, to everyone’s surprise and delight, Alan discovered another orchid in flower — one that had not been previously reported as being found on the property — Neottia bifolia or Southern Twayblade orchid, formerly known as Listera australis. We looked around and eventually found about a half-dozen of them within a few meters of each other. How lucky it was for us to find this orchid while looking for a different one. Here is an image of one plant we saw with a pollinator on one of the flowers. Brad had seen it flying back and forth as he photographed the same plant, so I made an attempt to capture it as it landed on one of the flowers:

These Southern Twayblade orchid flowers were generally more red in color than the ones that I had recently photographed along the Atlantic Coastal Plain (a link to those images Here) — they were more typical of those found farther north. Here are a few more shots:

After photographing the orchids, we piled back into the truck and headed toward a site for a wildflower I had not seen in flower — Hydrastis canadensis or Goldenseal:

This is a species that is not frequently seen in the South, but at this site, it is found in the hundreds. Each plant is only 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) tall and bears two palmate, pubescent leaves with 3 to 7 double-toothed lobes and single, small, inconspicuous flowers with white stamens. The first group we saw had flowers which were not completely open. My thought was that it was too early in the morning to find open flowers. I don’t know if this it true, but the populations we found later in the day all had open flowers. Here are some additional shots of this diminutive flower species:

Nearby, we found a couple of other interesting plants — a bright red, Pedicularis canadensis or Canadian Lousewort also known as Wood Betony, and an unusually shaped wildflower called Euphorbia commutata or Wood spurge. What is really neat about the Wood Spurge is that it has both male and female flowers on the same plant. According to Wikipedia, “The individual flowers are either male or female, with the male flowers reduced to only the stamen, and the females to the pistil. These flowers have no sepals, petals, or other parts that are typical of flowers in other kinds of plants. Structures supporting the flower head and beneath have evolved to attract pollinators with nectar and with shapes and colors that function the way petals and other flower parts do in other flowers. It is the only genus of plants that has all three kinds of photosynthesis.”

We were seeing even more species within just a meter or two. One of these is Myosoton aquaticum or Giant chickweed. The flowers appear to have 10 petals, but actually, they have 5, deeply lobed petals. This is a plant that is frequently seen in southeastern, rich cove forests:

Another species we ran across in large numbers is Viola pensylvanica or Smooth Yellow violet. These little beauties were quite easy to spot growing out of the leaf litter:

A few feet away were the strap-like leaves of Allium tricoccum or Ramps. In Europe, a similar species is called Leeks. Ramps are popular in the cuisines of the rural uplands of the American South, and also in the Canadian province of Quebec. Ramps also have a growing popularity in restaurants throughout North America. Both the white lower leaf stalks and the broad green leaves are edible. There is even a Ramps Festival held in the mountains of West Virginia each year where they celebrate the gathering of Ramps in the spring. I’ve never eaten them, but I hear that they have a strong onion or garlic-like flavor when cooked.

Well, it was getting to be time to visit our final destination — one that Alan had said would “knock our socks off”. I didn’t know how it could possibly get any better. We loaded ourselves back into the truck and drove another couple of miles along that rutted, bumpy road, all the while I was wondering if I was about to lose a tooth filling or two. 😉 We arrived at a rather unremarkable spot in the road and retrieved our gear. Alan guided us west, down the gently sloping hillside through the woods. About 500 yards later, we came upon one of the richest population of Mertensia virginica or Virginia Blue bells I have ever seen!

This panorama shot hardly begins to capture the acres upon acres of this powder-blue beauty. The drifts of flowers stretched beyond what I could see. Here are a few more shots that might help to give you an idea of the expanse of Virginia Blue bells that were in front of us:

This wildflower has quite a few common names, some of which are Virginia Blue bells, Virginia cowslip, Roanoke bells, and the unforgettable Lungwort Oysterleaf. Here is a close-up shot of the umbel of light blue flowers this plant produces:

To top this off, nearby were thousands of Clatonia virginica or Spring Beauty. Their pink-striped white flowers literally covered the ground in places:

Scattered here and there, were a couple of violet species — Viola striata or Striped Cream violet and Viola rostrata or Spurred violet:

Somehow, I managed to notice a tiny white flower (about 1/8 inch or 3 mm wide) at my feet. Thanks to Steve’s boundless knowledge about such things, this turns out to be Nemophila aphylla or Smallflower baby blue-eyes:

While I was photographing these tiny beauties, Alan had circled around behind the large expanse of Virginia Blue bells. He wasted no time coming back to us, reporting that he had found something that he knew we would like to see. So, we gathered our gear and followed him along a deer trail. After a short distance, he pointed out a couple of bright yellow Stylophorum diphyllum or Celandine poppy also known as Wood poppy. This is one species I wanted to revisit, since I had photographed them only for the first time last year when I visited a spectacular wildflower site in north Georgia called “The Pocket”. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed that their flowers were not fully open, but I set up my camera gear and photographed this one anyway:

We continued around the circumference of the Virginia Blue bell acreage and began to see a lot of Dicentra cucullaria or Dutchman’s breeches. There were hundreds of blooming plants scattered all around. Here are some shots of the better-looking plants — we were probably a week too late to see them all at their best:

Also scattered among the Dutchman’s breeches were the beautiful, velvety dark blue/purple spires of Delphinium tricorne or Dwarf Larkspur:

Surrounding the Dutchman’s breeches and Dwarf Larkspur were tens of thousands of Wood poppies, and they were in full bloom! I was definitely in my “happy place”! Here is a set of shots of the Wood poppies that we spent over an hour photographing:

Here is a Wood poppy hosting a hover fly for lunch:

Wow! I’m still tasting the excitement of seeing all of these beautiful wildflowers in one location. Nothing I have shown you can possibly describe the beauty of the place. I am so fortunate to have been able to visit places like this thanks to my photography buddies who know fine people like H.C. and E.C. They have a treasure in their “backyard” and they know it!

Until my next adventure…

–Jim