Continuation of previous blog entry — Purple Fringed orchids along the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC — 2020-06-25

On Thursday, my son Dylan and I made our way back up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina to check on the status of the bloom of the Purple Fringed orchids. On a previous visit 5 days previous with Walter Ezell, we saw some few of the orchids in bloom although there were a good number of them in bud.

Platanthera grandiflora or Large Purple Fringed orchid

Platanthera psycodes or Small Purple Fringed orchid

Large Purple Fringed orchid: nectary opening is round; anthers are larger and are spread farther apart

Small Purple Fringed orchid: nectary opening is flattened/pinched; anthers are smaller and are closer together

The first group we saw was a group of Large Purple Fringed orchids that were only in bud on the previous visit. On this trip, they were in beautiful bloom. The first image in this post is of one of the inflorescences. Here is another one:

Here is a close-up of each of those Large Purple Fringed orchid plants:

After photographing these plants, we drove over to Mt. Mitchell State Park, which is just off the Parkway. The cloud layer had dropped to 4,000 feet (~1,220 meters), so driving was a challenge. The light was perfectly diffused, so the clouds were not a problem for photography unless, of course, it rained. But throughout the day, we experienced only one brief shower. Dylan decided to hike over to Cattail Peak (a few miles from Mt. Mitchell) which is one of the Black Mountain Crest peaks above 6,000 feet (1,828 meters). He is attempting to bag all of those peaks, but it will take him another couple of years, because he is currently living in North Dakota and comes down to the Carolina to visit family. The reason that there are so many disjunct wildflower species on Mt. Mitchell and surrounding areas is that it is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. The elevation of Mt. Mitchell is 6,684 feet (2,037 meters) above sea level. The environment of all the areas above 5,000 feet (~1,500 meters) along the Blue Ridge Parkway almost perfectly mirrors that of areas much farther north.

The ditches along access road to the park are usually lined with many blooming orchid plants, but on this trip, we didn’t see very many. I don’t know if we were still too early in the season, or if there is another reason that the population count is low this year. In any case, we did see a number of nicely blooming plants farther up toward the peak. Here is a sample of those:

I really like the looks of those plants with lighter colored flowers. Here are a couple of the pink ones:

Those plants in more shady areas have flowers which are separated on the stem by more distance:

I usually prefer to photograph the plants which are not crowded by other vegetation, but occasionally, there is a nice one growing up through a tangle of vines and such:

By this time, Dylan had returned from his 6-mile (~10 km) hike, we chowed down on a pizza we had bought earlier and talked about what we had seen during the day. The clouds were still socking in the top of the mountain, so we decided to head back home.

Along the way, I stopped by a wet cliff face to check out the habitat. I found about a dozen Huperzia appalachiana or Appalachian Firmoss on a bed of Scapania nemorea, a Liverwort species. These wet cliff faces along the Parkway are often referred to as vertical bogs, because they contain many species which require a constantly wet environment. Huperzia appalachiana is a clubmoss which is often found much farther north. Again, a reminder of the elevation of this part of the Parkway. The fact that it generally appears only at high elevation, it is considered S3 or vulnerable status in North Carolina. I’m always happy to find it, especially on my orchid photography trips:

In the image, above left, note the small flattened portions of the plant toward the apex of the stem. These are gemmae. A gemma (plural gemmae) is a single cell, or a mass of cells, or a modified bud of tissue, that detaches from the parent and develops into a new individual. This type of asexual reproduction is referred to as fragmentation. It is a means of asexual propagation in plants. The lighter green/yellow sacs against the stem and between the pointed leaves are sporangea. A sporangium (plural sporangia) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a single cell or can be multicellular. So, this plant has two methods of producing offspring. Germination of spores is a long process and is fraught with challenges to produce plants. The gemmae on the other hand usually thrive when they take root nearby in a suitable environment.

A great day with Dylan at one of my favorite wildflower locations. He is great at spotting plants along the highway, and having a second pair of eyes is always a positive. One thing we saw on this trip gave me a measure of concern. The large roadside area where Walter and I had photographed the dozens of Aquilegia canadensis or Eastern red Columbine only 5 days earlier was mowed to the ground! Those plant were roadside bloomers, but were well off the Parkway. There’s not much to do about it, but still, it’s pretty discouraging.

The end of July and the first week of August, brings us another wave of orchids: Platanthera ciliaris or Yellow Fringed orchid, Spiranthes lacera var. gracilis or Southern Slender Ladies Tresses orchid, and my favorite, Triphora trianthophoros or Three Birds orchid — each very different, but beautiful in its own way.

Stay tuned…

–Jim