In search of Club-spur orchids on the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina — 2016-07-21

Ten days ago, my good friend Liz Fox wrote to tell me that she had just photographed Gymnadeniopsis (Platanthera) clavellata or Club-spur orchid also known as Small Green Woodland orchid along the Blue Ridge Parkway at Wolf Mountain overlook. I knew exactly the place she was referring to, because I had seen them in seed just last September. I had not visited this site in July, so I decided that I would drive up there to check them out. She mentioned that she had visited a week prior to her last trip, and the flowers had just been in bud. I was hoping that I would not be too late and find them well past peak bloom. Here is an image of the Club-spur orchid:

Club-spur orchid

In the above image, it’s quite easy to see the club-shaped nectar spur hanging off the back of each flower.

So, early Thursday morning, I set out on my trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway, having in mind several stops for wildflowers that I had seen on prior adventures to the area. Although there are a couple of good ways to reach the Parkway from my home in Greenville, South Carolina, I chose my favorite route, U.S. Hwy 276 through upper Greenville County to Brevard, North Carolina. This takes me through a wonderful section of the Pisgah National Forest and then intersects with the Parkway.

Let me digress a bit here and state that I will be showing you some wildflowers that have been featured in recent blog posts. This happens because these particular wildflowers bloom for an extended period of time and can be seen in flower at the different elevations encountered when driving up to the Parkway. There is a significant gain in elevation on that drive, from 1000 feet (~300 meters) to 6000 feet (~1850 meters) and that allows me to catch plants in flower at the higher elevations which have already bloomed out at the lower elevations. This also works for the spectacular show of fall foliage, allowing several weeks to view the foliage at different altitudes. Let me also state that all of the images in this blog post are of plants seen along the roadside. I prefer to do “roadside botany” whenever it is possible. As I get older, that 5-mile (8-km) hike to find spectacular wildflowers becomes more difficult. Now, back to our scheduled programming…

There is a spot where my friend, Sam Saulys, and I found a patch of Goodyera pubescens or Downy Rattlesnake Plantain orchid leaves last fall. I made a mental note of the location so that I could return to it when the orchids were in bloom. This is a species that can be found in large numbers especially in the Southern Appalachian mountains. Fortunately, there is a pull off near this spot. I parked, gathered my camera gear and crossed the road to where we had seen the plants. Sure enough, I found about a dozen plants in bloom. Here are a few images of one of the best of the bunch:

I finished with these beauties, packed my gear and headed up the mountain to the Parkway. This is a very winding, mountain road, and there were several times when I saw wildflowers along the roadside but was unable to find a place to pull off to photograph them. I figured that I would see the same species after I reached the Parkway, so I was not too disappointed that I couldn’t stop for them on the drive up the mountain.

After I reached the Parkway intersection, I headed east just a short drive to a spot where I had seen Lilium superbum or Turk’s-cap lily in profusion a couple of years ago. I also knew that there was a wide, grassy pull off just across from this showy display. As I approached the spot, I could see the orange-red flowers towering over the shoulder of the highway. These plants are giants, some towering more than 9 feet (3 meters) tall with dozens of flowers hanging down and swinging in the wind. Here is a wide-angle shot that I hope will give you the same impression that I had when I first saw them:

I always feel inadequate to capture this type of scene, because the color of the flowers tends to get lost in the background from a distance. In any case, here are some additional shots of these gorgeous lilies photographed a bit closer:

Notice in the above right image, the dark green “star” that is at the center of each of these Turk’s-cap lily flowers. This is a characteristic that helps define the species, making it easier to separate them from other, similar-looking lily species that are found in the same geographical region.

It was time to turn around and head west to my intended destination. Since the speed limit is 45 mph (72 kph) along the Blue Ridge Parkway, it is much easier to spot color along the roadside although it is not always easy to find a place to pull off in order to check out the wildflowers.

A few miles from my destination, I rounded a curve and saw a wet cliff face to my left. There is always something interesting growing at the base of such a wet cliff, and fortunately, there was a wide, grassy pull off directly opposite the cliff face. So, that’s just what I did. I gathered my gear and crossed the road to discover a hundred or more Gymnadeniopsis (Platanthera) clavellata in perfect bloom, growing in the wet moss at the base of the cliff! It helps to know the habitat for such orchids when trying to discover their locations. I wasn’t even at my final destination, yet I had found a nice population of them. There were groups of a dozen or more flowering plants scattered here and there in a fairly small area. This made for some good photographic opportunities:

Another denizen of the wet cliff faces of the Southern Appalachian mountains and especially the Blue Ridge Parkway is Micranthes petiolaris (formerly known as Saxifraga michauxii) or Michaux’s saxafrage. The tiny, 1/4-inch (6-mm) flowers are borne on very open thyrses (a dense, paniclelike flower cluster, in which the lateral branches terminate in cymes). Yes, I learned a few new terms today, too.

Here are a couple of images of this frequently seen wildflower. It can only be appreciated to its fullest in a close-up image:

I was beginning to hear rumbles of thunder off in the distance, so I figured I’d better make my way to my final destination. As I drove south on the Parkway, I kept seeing patches of white on the roadside. When I finally found a suitable place to pull off the road, I realized that what I was seeing is Clematis virginiana or Virgin’s Bower. This is a sweetly scented, vining plant that becomes easy to locate only when it flowers. Its vining stems will eventually become covered with these lovely white flowers. But be aware that this species has an Asian cousin (Clematis terniflora) that was brought to the U.S. as an ornamental and has become an invasive plant when it finds its way out of the garden and into the wild. The flowers of both species are quite similar, but the shape of the leaves is the give-away. The native plant species can be found in all of eastern North America. This link shows the difference of the leaf shape quite well. Here are a couple of images of the native Virgin’s Bower flowers:

Hearing the thunder getting closer, I quickly packed up and headed south. Of course, I’m easily distracted, so when I see some pink and purple along the roadside, I stop at once. What I found is quite similar to a species I featured in my most recent blog. This pink and purple one is Monarda fistulosa or Wild Bergamot. These flowers are a bit smaller than the bright red, Monarda didyma or Scarlet beebalm. There were some very pale lavender-colored ones (almost white) in this population, but I did not manage to get a picture of them, since I was fearing the thunder and lightning storm that was following me down the Parkway. Here are shots of two color forms of Wild Bergamot:

I finally arrived at Wolf Mountain overlook and took in the sight of a very large, towering (almost vertical), wet cliff face. In season, there are many spectacular wildflowers that inhabit this site. Today, though, I was looking for two specific species. The first of these is the Club-spur orchid. My friend Liz was right. There were many groups of this light green orchid along the base of the cliff. But many, if not most of them were a bit past peak flowering. However, I did manage to find a few photogenic groups and singles. Here are a couple of shots:

The second species that I had hoped to find in flower is Triantha glutinosa (formerly, Tofieldia glutinosa) or Sticky Tofieldia and Sticky False Asphodel. It got the “sticky” portion of its common name due to the fact that the upper portion of its stem is sticky and hairy. Being a more northerly species, it is found in North Carolina in only three of the mountain counties. The elevation at Wolf Mountain overlook is 5510 feet (1679 meters), so the environment can and does support many northern species. The location for these plants was pointed out to me by a fellow I met at the overlook a couple of years ago. But it was late fall then, and the plants were in seed. Here are some selected shots of this wildflower:

I was definitely not too early to photograph these flowers, because as you can see in the next two shots, some of them were already producing seed capsules:

It began to sprinkle rain, but I could see a couple of additional wildflower species I wanted to photograph before I left. One of these was the lovely fuschia-colored flowers of an Asian escapee, Spiraea japonica or Japanese spirea. One group of conservationists is concerned over the plant’s foothold in several northeastern states. According to the Plant Conservation Alliance, “Japanese spiraea can rapidly take over disturbed areas. Growing populations creep into meadows, forest openings, and other sites. Once established, Japanese spiraea grows rapidly and forms dense stands that outcompete much of the existing native herbs and shrubs. Seeds of Japanese spiraea last for many years in the soil, making its control and the restoration of native vegetation especially difficult.”:

As beautiful as these ornamental plants are, they do not belong in the wild where they can crowd out our native species.

As the rain began to increase, I noticed a yellow-flowered shrub growing in profusion next to the cliff face. It is Diervilla sessilifolia or Southern bush honeysuckle. Although found only in a couple of dozen counties in 5 southeastern states, it is quite plentiful in this portion of the Southern Appalachian mountains:

I had managed to snap only a few shots of this bushy, yellow-flowered shrub when it began to rain in earnest. Just about the time I reached the truck, a searing lightning bolt struck at the top of the mountain, and the ground shook with the accompanying thunder. I threw my gear into the back of the truck and jumped inside as quickly as physics would allow. Within less than a minute, the truck was being pelted with pea-sized hail and torrential rain. I waited in the parking area for the rain to lessen so that I could head back home.

As I passed some of the other overlooks on the way back, I could see drenched hikers retreating to their vehicles. I had timed the trip just perfectly. When I turned off the Parkway onto U.S. Hwy. 276 and headed down the mountain toward Brevard, NC, I had thoughts of the tasty food that was waiting for me at my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Chapala, in Brevard…

–Jim