Day 1 of a 4-day trip to the Atlantic Coastal Plain for orchids and carnivorous plants — 2016-05-19

My friends at the North Carolina Native Plant Society had asked me to speak at their spring meeting in Jacksonville, North Carolina, so I thought it would be a good time to visit some of my favorite wildflower haunts along the way. Being at the time for spring wildflowers along the Carolinas Atlantic Coastal Plain, this trip should provide quite a few opportunities to see and photograph many orchids and carnivorous plants.

The weekend began on an ominous note, though. As I traveled from my home in Greenville, South Carolina toward the coast (a 4- to 5-hour drive), the skies opened up with torrential rain. This has happened before, so I was not too worried, since the weather at the coast is often quite different than the weather in the foothills of the mountains. Having said that, I was beginning to doubt the propriety of leaving so early to get to the coast when the worst of the downpour covered the road as I reached Columbia, the half-way point of the day’s trip.

However, as I crept closer to my first destination, the Francis Marion National Forest near Charleston, South Carolina, the downpour fizzled out and left a very cloudy sky. Great! Overcast is perfect for outdoor wildflower photography. Let’s make some lemonade with these lemons…

The first interesting wildflower species I saw as I entered the FMNF was Spiranthes vernalis or Spring Ladies’-tresses orchid. It is very plentiful along almost any roadside in the Coastal Plain — as long as the roadside has not received its spring mowing. Fortunately, most of the road crews had not been busy mowing, so all of the roadsides and medians along the coastal Highway 17 in both South Carolina and North Carolina were full of this orchid:

Spring Ladies’-tresses orchid

They were fairly easy to spot, even as I was traveling at 60 mph (100 kph) — little, white, twisted spikes poking up among the grasses. Here are a few more shots of this dainty orchid. Notice that on some of them, there are two, faint orange blotches on the lip of the orchid. This is rather common, and it is a reliable indicator that the orchid is Spiranthes vernalis. My experience shows that it occurs on about 20% of all of the Spiranthes vernalis flowers along the Carolina Coastal Plain. Another definitive characteristic is the pointed hairs covering almost all portions of the plant, including the flowers. With other similar species, the hairs are tipped with knob-like glands:

Also, please check out the pair of pollinaria (sing. pollanarium) that were left behind by a pollinator. They are located under the topmost flower in the image above.

As I drove farther in to the FMNF, I began to notice the purple flowers of Scutellaria integrifolia or Helmet Flower also known as Skullcap:

These purple beauties were growing in the drier ground just above the roadside ditches that are so plentiful in the FMNF.

Beside the Skullcap plants, were large populations of another common wildflower of the coastal plain, Polygala lutea or Yellow Milkwort. One can hardly drive a mile or a km without seeing a large group of these plants. The little pom-pom of flowers at the terminal portion of the stem is quite attractive if seen up close. I suppose it can be called yellow, but it certainly looks orange to me.

Below, is a shot of a truly yellow form of this species. I found it along a roadside in North Carolina a few years ago:

This turned out to be a particularly nice stop, because there were a number of interesting plants within just a short distance.

The next wildflower I spotted was Spiranthes praecox or Grass-leaved Ladies’-tresses orchid also known a Greenvein Ladies’-tresses orchid. The green veins in the lip of this orchid are not easy to see without magnification. Sometimes they are such a light color, that they seem to disappear all together. I’ve even seen them with yellow veins:

Another wildflower that was hard to miss is the 4-foot (1.2 meter) tall Cirsium horridulum or Purple Thistle. Every time I see this plant in the wild, I think of how horrible it would be to fall into it or sit on it!

Did I mention that it is also a “butterfly magnet”? Here is one with a Phoebis sennae or Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly getting its fill of nectar. Normally, this butterfly is very skittish, and I have a difficult time approaching it before it flutters away. This time, it was so intent in getting lunch, that it remained on the flower for an extended period of time:

I usually bring along a snack to tide me over during my day-long field trips. Today, however, I did not have to go back to the truck for a snack. Laid out at my feet along the roadside, were thousands of Rubus trivalis or Southern Dewberry fruit. It both looks like and tastes like the common Blackberry that we are so used to seeing in early July in the upstate. Unlike the Blackberry, these fruit are on rambling branches that seem to hug the ground. I took time to gorge myself on these tasty berries. With red-stained hands, I eventually resumed my work of photographing wildflowers:

Farther off the road and into the recently burned savannah, I found the white flowers of Lyonia mariana or Piedmont Staggerbush. This shrub can be 4-5 feet (1.2-1.5 meters) tall, but these were less than 1 foot (.3 meter) tall due to the recent burn. They were, however, in glorious bloom:

Beside the Piedmont Staggerbush, were blooming carnivorous plants — Sarracenia minor or Hooded Pitcher Plant. Although these are the last of our native Pitcher Plants to bloom, I was still surprised to see the flowers in late May:

Since the pitchers are fully formed when the plant blooms, it has evolved to have its flowers at a much lower level than the top of the pitchers in order to prevent capturing its pollinators. The white spots on the back of each pitcher are thin membranes that allow light to penetrate the pitcher, thereby attracting prey to fly into the pitcher from its lip where it had been sipping on intoxicating nectar droplets:

In the ditch a few feet away from the Pitcher Plants was a thick stand of Rhynchospora latifolia or Sand-swamp Whitetop sedge:

This species is quite robust, and it can cover a very large area in just a few years. Here is a close-up of its flowers. The long white “petals” are not petals at all. They are bracts which are ringing the small cluster of creamy-white flowers in the center:

There was a very colorful wildflower within arm’s reach (I told you this was a very nice spot, didn’t I?), Asclepias lancefolia or Few-flowered Milkweed. This one is quite a challenge to photograph, because if there is even the slightest hint of a breeze, the flowers will sway back and forth on the 4-foot (1.2 meter) long thin stem, and disappear from view through the camera’s eyepiece. Fortunately, I managed to catch it during a lull in the wind:

At ground level, I spotted a Prunella vulgaris or Common Selfheal plant in full bloom. This species is found all over the United States — even in Alaska and Europe. I regularly see it lining the roadside in my mountain travels. Common Selfheal is edible; the young leaves and stems can be eaten raw in salads. Although its flowers resemble orchid flowers, it is a member of the Mint family. It has been used in herbal medicine for every ailment known to man:

Click Here for a detailed exposition on the many wonders and uses of Common Selfheal.

Just next to the Common Selfheal, was a carpet of Glandularia rigida or Stiff Verbena. This brightly colored wildflower is seen in the yard of many of the rural homes in the Southeast. It is easy to grow and spreads quite rapidly to form a colorful bed of purple flowers:

Another commonly seen purple flower is Buchnera americana or American Bluehearts. Its flowers are held on long, thin stems, and they can also be a challenge to photograph:

While walking in the same area, I found several Rhododendron atlanticum or Coastal Dwarf Azalea plants. Actually, they were some of the first ones I noticed, because its heady fragrance permeates the air where ever it grows:

One shrub that can quickly take over a longleaf pine savannah is Ilex glabra or Inkberry. Although I’ve been visiting this area in May for many years, I don’t think I’ve noticed the tiny white flowers of this plant before. What I usually see is the black berries that cover the limbs and twigs in summer and fall. This is a plant that will spring forth after a prescribed burn unless the burn is done during growing season. In winter, when many of the burns are set, it’s dormant energy is stored in its root system and is not harmed by fire. Only by setting a growing season burn can you be sure of killing the plant. Of course, it will come back, in time, because of the many seeds it produces:

Time to move on to my next stop a bit farther down the road but still in the forest. This area was recently burned (this past winter, I’m guessing), and was now green with spring grasses and other foliage. Dotted here and there, I can see the magenta-purple flowers of Calopogon tuberosus or Common Grass-pink orchid. Although not necessarily fire-dependent, it does quite well after a prescribed burn has removed much of the vegetative competition:

All along the roadside and into the newly regenerating woods, were the tall white spires of Aletris farinosa or Colicroot. A number of years ago, when I was first introduced to this plant, I thought it was a giant Spiranthes or Ladies’-tresses orchid. At highway speed, they closely resemble each other, to the uninitiated:

Also along the roadside were drifts of Penstemon laevigatus or Eastern Smooth Beardtongue. This wildflower comes in several shades of pink, but I prefer the light pink ones:

In the wet ditches, I found the beautiful Iris tridentata or Savannah Iris:

After photographing at this location, I drove down one of the forest service roads, and at an intersection, I saw a couple of people standing beside a truck intently discussing something. As I got closer, I spotted a camera and I knew I must be in good company. When I reached the spot where they were standing, I stopped, rolled down the window and introduced myself. Turns out, one of the people was Jeff Jackson, an official in the South Carolina Native Plant Society from the lowcountry of South Carolina. He was speaking with a local reporter about native plants. When he told her who I was, she asked me some questions about my knowledge of the area. She wrapped up the interview, and Jeff asked if I wanted to see an orchid spot he knew about that was close by. Of course I said “YES!”.

We walked to the spot and found a few Cleistesiopsis divaricata or Large Rosebud orchids. It was nice of him to share this site with me even though I was aware of other orchids that bloom there in the fall. We looked around a bit more, then I thanked him and we parted company. Here are a few of the flowers we saw:

The day had flown by, and it was now time to head up the coast to my layover in Shallotte, North Carolina, just a few miles from my field trip the next day in the Green Swamp. On the way, I passed by a recently burned area that was filled with the colorful flowers of Tephrosia virginiana or Virginia Goat’s rue:

I finally made it to North Carolina and checked into my motel room. I was tired and wet from the late sprinkles of rain I encountered just before I left South Carolina, but I was smiling inside after having seen all of nature’s beauty that is free for the taking.

Until the next installment, stay safe and happy hunting…

–Jim