Day 3 – Carolina Coastal Plain – Orchids and Wildflowers in the Green Swamp, North Carolina — 2015-08-16

Warning: This will be a fairly lengthy post due to the number of images that I want to show you. So go get a “cold one”, sit down and relax, and enjoy the adventure.

Sunday morning came awfully early, because I had stayed up late the night before downloading and reviewing the images I took in the Croatan National Forest. But, I wasted no time in downing the continental breakfast at the EconoLodge in Shallotte, North Carolina, and then headed out on this day’s quest. The EconoLodge is where I stay each time I visit the Green Swamp area. I almost feel like I know the folks at the front desk by now. I proceeded to the usual meeting spot in the Green Swamp, the “Pond”, where I expected to meet KT and Jackie, friends from North Carolina, and another friend, John Horner, from the Chicago, Illinois area. It should be a good day, especially since we were hoping for partly cloudy weather — perfect for us photographers.

As I neared the meeting place on Hwy. 211 just north of the town of Supply, North Carolina, I passed by the site for our first foray out into the field — Big Island Savannah. What is this!?! It was recently burned — looks like about a month ago! That’s not a good sign for finding orchids in bloom. The bright green savannah grasses were already up about 10 inches (25 cm), and the visual was quite stunning. But, that made me anxious thinking that we would not see any of the fringed orchids we expected to see in Big Island Savannah.

I drove a bit farther down Hwy. 211 and pulled in to the sandy parking area at the Pond. John was already waiting for me there in the shade. We chatted a bit and soon, KT and Jackie drove up. I introduced John to KT and Jackie, and we made preparations to visit our first stop, Big Island.

On our way over to the site, we stopped along the road to photograph a few late-blooming Asclepias lanceolata or Few-flowered Milkweed. I’m always surprised to see them this late in the year, since the major bloom is around May and June. But I was gratified to see that many of the earlier blooming plants had already formed seed capsules — future offspring of these gorgeous flowering plants. This particular location produces unbelievable color forms of what I suspect are hybrids between this species and Asclepias rubra or Red Milkweed. Here images of Few-flowered Milkweed and Red Milkweed that were still blooming beside the highway:

Few-flowered Milkweed

Red Milkweed

Now, if you are not familiar with these two species, you are probably thinking that I might have mistakenly switched the captions on the above images. Not so. In our region, Red Milkweed is generally some shade of pink or light pink. Few-flowered Milkweed is generally red/orange and yellow, just as you see in the above images. Here is a link to one of my Flickr albums where I show some of the striking color forms of the hybrids.

I mentioned the seed capsules of these plants. Here are a couple of images of the capsules — some of them opening to let the seeds fly off in the wind:

Nearby, I spot a few Liatris spicata var. resinosa or Dense Blazing Star. This plant is very similar to Liatris spicata var. spicata or Blazing Star which grows in our Carolina mountain regions and along eastern portions of North America:

You might have noticed that the flowering stem in the above image is providing a resting place for a Peucetia viridans or Green Lynx Spider. This happens to be the more diminutive male version. I will show you images of the larger, more robust female spider later in the blog.

We eventually make it out onto Big Island Savannah where we are greeted with the sight of tall, stately Pinus palustris or Longleaf Pine in an ocean of Aristida stricta or Pineland threeawn also simply known as Wiregrass. This sight always thrills me when I see it — so beautiful and fresh:

However, today, I am a bit anxious because I’m not seeing the familiar yellow/orange “torches” of Platanthera ciliaris or Yellow fringed orchid scattered in the Wiregrass. However, what I do see does excite me! Scattered everywhere in the bright green Wiregrass are tens of thousands of flowering plants of Calopogon pallidus or Pale Grass-pink orchids as far as the eye can see! I really was not expecting to see this. Upon reflection, I should have considered that they might be blooming, since my friend David McAdoo had seen a similar sight about 5 years ago when Big Island Savannah was burned in July. An unfortunate result of a summer burn is that the other orchids in the savannah will probably not show up for a couple of years.

It is what it is. Now it is time to make lemonade from the lemons that we were given — and what sweet lemonade it is. I spent the next couple of hours walking the savannah looking for different color forms of this orchid species, being one of the more variable species in the genus, Calopogon. Here are some of the more interesting ones I was able to photograph:

There were only a handful of plants with three open flowers — a rarity for this species, at least in our neck of the woods. The large majority of them have either a single open flower or two open flowers:

KT took the time to show me one plant which had a flower that provided a temporary home for a tiny Crab Spider:

Finally, I managed to find the alba form of this orchid species. You may have thought that I have already showed you this form, but I consider true alba form to be one that has no yellow or any other color in the lip (the uppermost petal). All of the other white flowered ones I’ve shown have a yellow or orange blotch of bristles on the lip:

Here and there, close to the orchids, I found the rare, Asclepias longifolia or Longleaf Milkweed:

Here are a couple of shots of John in the grass on Big Island. In the first shot, he is inspecting one of the Pale Grass-pink orchids. In the second shot, he is taking a break from the rigorous work of photography in the heat and humidity of the Green Swamp:

We finished up with our photography on Big Island, not finding the other orchid species we were looking for. I suggested that we drive down the road a short distance to Little Island Savannah. Although these two savannahs are quite close, sometimes we see different flowering species at each site. So, we walked back to the parking lot and stowed our equipment for the short drive to Little Island. Once we got there, we retrieved our equipment and walked down to the “crossing point”. This is a 2 x 6 plank that several years ago was laid across a deep, water-filled ditch that separates the savannah from the roadside. I tested the plank, making sure it was still solid, then crossed it into Little Island.

Little Island was burned a couple of years ago in a prescribed burn which was used to rid the Longleaf Pine savannahs of unwanted, woody vegetation. Most of the plants on the savannah are “fire dependent”, meaning that they thrive when the savannah is regularly burned. The orchids and carnivorous plants, especially, tend to become weak and do not do well if a burn is not conducted every few years. Of course, the Longleaf Pine is a species that is naturally suited for burns. It has evolved to bounce back after a fire — its thick bark protecting the tree from serious damage.

In previous years, we have seen a few Gymnadeniopsis integra or Yellow fringeless orchids scattered here and there in the savannah. Since Big Island was not showing us much in the way of orchids besides Calopogon pallidus, I had hoped to be able to find some additional orchid species on Little Island.

We slowly made our way out into the center of Little Island where I had seen a few Yellow fringeless orchids last year. Low and behold, there were six of them in a fairly small area, and they were in perfect bloom. We hurried over to those beauties to set up for our photography. Once we got there, it was obvious that there were dozens more nearby. It was difficult to see them in the tall Wiregrass, but as we moved around on Little Island, more and more came in to view.

The first ones I photographed were a pair that were growing near each other. I have noticed that the flowers turn a more golden-yellow as they age. The freshest ones are a pure, saffron yellow color:

Soon, we were all busy at several scattered sites in the center of the savannah.

In the rightmost shot, above, you can easily see that this is, indeed, a fringeless orchid, although the lip is lightly serrated along the edge.

After looking around a bit and inspecting a number of the hundred or so blooming plants in the savannah, I managed to find two of them harboring large, female Green Lynx spiders:

We did manage to find a few good Platanthera ciliaris or Yellow fringed orchids on Little Island. Here are some shots of those:

In this last shot, the remains of some recently burned, woody vegetation is evident around the orchid plant:

It was about lunch time, so we all agreed to get out of the hot sun and head back south on Hwy. 211 to Supply, North Carolina, and visit the Subway Sandwich Shop for a well-deserved lunch break.

After lunch, I suggested that we head over to the town of Boiling Spring Lakes where I had seen Habenaria repens or Water-spider orchid growing next to a pond at the local golf course. So we headed down Hwy. 17 toward Boiling Spring Lakes. We reached the turnoff and parked in a grassy field near the golf course. It was just a short walk to the pond next to the highway.

In the past, there have been some really nice Platanthera conspicua or Southern White fringed orchids in the roadside ditch, but apparently the grounds crew had been told to mow closer to the ditch than they had in previous years, so we didn’t see any of those orchids this year. Maybe next year… However, there were many hundreds of Water-spider orchids around the pond. Water-spider orchid comes up in early spring and begins blooming in May, and it will continue to send up new runners with new plants during the year and bloom until frost. These were in great shape, and we wasted no time in getting down and dirty with them. Close up, it is easy to see how it got its common name. Here are a few shots of the best of the flowering plants next to the pond:

After processing the images, I found a picture of one plant that was home to a round, white Crab Spider:

There was one more location to visit in Boiling Spring Lakes, and that was East BSL Road. In the past, I had seen a few Southern White fringed orchids in the ditches along the roadside, but I had no idea whether they would be there this year. Roadside mowing is always a hazard for orchids, but we would check out that area just to be sure. John had to get back to the airport for his flight home, so we said our goodbyes and proceeded to this next site.

We had driven almost to the end of the road, when I spotted a flash of white out of the corner of my eye. I made a mental note of the location and continued down the road. Here and there, I saw a couple of blooming plants in the ditch. When I got to the intersection of Funston Road, I turned around and headed back to where I had seen the flowers. On the way back, I spotted a group of the orchids that I had missed, so I stopped on the side of the road to photograph them. Roadside botanizing is great — not much walking and you are always near your vehicle in case you forget something. Jackie and KT were in their car behind me, so they got out to inspect the flowers. There was one group of four or five plants that I thought was quite handsome, so I began with that one:

There were a number of them still in tight bud or just ready to open their flowers like the one below:

Finally, I couldn’t help myself. I had to take one shot from above. I have always liked this perspective, and it works well with the fringed orchids:

It was getting to be late in the day, so we started packing our gear for the trip home. But KT was not ready to leave quite yet. He had found a large bug on one of the shrubs next to the road. This turned out to be a huge Arilus cristatus or Wheel Bug also known as an Assassin Bug. It got its name, Wheel Bug from the wheel-like structure on its back. The name, Assassin Bug comes from their fierce nature with other insects. They have a formidable curved proboscis, and large specimens like the 2-inch (5 cm) one we were photographing should be handled with caution, if at all, because they sometimes defend themselves with a very painful stab from the proboscis. They use this sharp proboscis to pierce the body of other insects and suck out their juices:

What a way to wrap up the day!

This was such an enjoyable 3-day trip to some places that are very dear to me. Some are special places that have been preserved for future generations to enjoy. We must be vigilant, however, to keep them that way. Those orchids and other wildflowers on private property such as the golf course in Boiling Spring Lakes are subject to the vagaries of the mowers, and we should enjoy them while we can. Likewise, those beautiful plants that bloom on narrow roadsides may come and go according to the mowing schemes of the Department of Transportation. In any case, here I am to record what I see and share it with you to enjoy, as well. I always appreciate seeing images taken by others who visit places I probably will not have the chance to visit in my lifetime and I hope you do, too.

Until our next adventure, be well and enjoy your life…

–Jim