Orchids and Milkweed and Broom Rape, Oh My! Cedar Mountain’s DuPont State Forest — 2014-05-14

We usually take a winding mountain road, U.S. Hwy. 276, up the Blue Ridge Escarpment to reach the Dupont State Forest, which is just across the border between South Carolina and North Carolina. This 10,000+ acre tract is a working forest managed by the North Carolina Forest Service, and it is available to the public for hunting, hiking, and camping. While we were there, we shared the narrow woodland trail with a few mountain bikers.

On the way up the Escarpment, I stopped at one of my usual places to check on the status of an orchid species that is usually beginning to bloom about this time of year. This year, I didn’t see any blooming orchid plants there, but I did see a large population of Asclepias quadrifolia or Four-leaved Milkweed. Here are some shots of this delicate species:

This stop was only 10 miles (16 km) or so from our destination, so we packed our gear an headed up the mountain. Soon, we reached the parking lot of Fawn Lake Access Area in the DuPont State Forest. The sky was clear to partly cloudy (I was wishing for overcast which is great for photography), so we took some folding reflectors for shading purposes.

There are a number of trails at this access point that wind through the hills and open woods. The trail we were taking is more of a foot path than a groomed trail, and it is usually only wide enough for single lane traffic. So, when we met a couple of mountain bikers on the trail, we had to step away to let them pass. In doing so, I saw my first ever Orobanche unifolora or One-flowered Broom Rape also known by some as Cancer Root:

I agree that it’s not much to look at, but it was on my life list. I had been seeing images of it on Flickr, taken by some of my Flickr friends all over the southeast, and I wondered why I could never find it. Thanks to the bikers, I now was able to photograph this tiny, 2-inch (5 cm) tall flower for the first time:

In some parts of the country, the flowers are a rich, deep blue/purple, but ours are mostly white. However, if you look closely at the opening flower in the above right image, you will see a thin strip of purple along the edge of the petals.

It was time to continue down the trail to find the orchids we were looking for. It seemed that this moderately strenuous trail was uphill all the way in both directions, 😉 but I know that is not possible. I’m going to have to get more exercise so that I don’t have such a time of it…

Anyway, we soon began seeing Cypripedium acaule or Pink Lady’s-slipper orchids scattered here and there in the woods along the trail:

As we rounded one particular corner on the trail, we spotted a large population of this orchid species about 10 feet (3 meters) off the trail on the left. There were about two dozen blooming plants in this group that was snaking its way up the hillside The following image shows only a portion of the group:

These were in perfect shape, and some of the plants were quite tall, holding their bright pink flowers about 12-15 inches (30-40 cm) above the ground:

As we proceeded farther up the trail, we began to see Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum or Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids along the side of the trail. Here is one with a two-flowered stem. This species is fairly rare this far south. In fact, these Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids are probably near the southernmost extent of their range in the Carolinas:

Here is where I must get into the discussion about whether or not this is a Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchid or Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchid. In this case, I’m basing the identification mostly on the size of the flowers. Although in most populations of this species, the petals and sepals are much darker having more brownish-red coloration, the pouches were only about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. There is some distinction between the pouch “shape” between the two species, however this may be quite subtle, and I’m not familiar enough with the Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids to know the difference. There may even be some hybridization between the two species (if that is possible), since there seems to be a tell-tale intergrade in some of the flowers.

Anyway, we were quite pleased to find the plants in pretty good shape. So we photographed this double-flowered one and headed on up the trail to see what else we could find.

In one section of the woods, we began to see some strange, curled, wand-like stems with tiny white flowers that turned out to be Chamaelirium luteum or Devil’s Bit also known as Fairy Wand:

Here is a close-up shot of the flowers:

Soon, we reached the location where, in previous years, we had seen a number of Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens or Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids. I scrambled down the wooded hillside and almost immediately found two plants about 3 feet (1 meter) apart. One of the plants had a flower that was already withered and past prime bloom. The other one, however was fairly nice and had a pouch that was slightly less than 2 inches (5 cm) long:

We saw many more groups of flowering plants with 3 to 5 flowering plants in each group, but the flowers were all past bloom. This was rather disappointing, since we were at this exact spot this time last year, and the flowers were in perfect shape. Here’s one more that was good enough to photograph:

We also saw a number of Galearis spectabilis or purple and white Showy Orchis specimens, but these were all past bloom and not worthy of a photograph.

It was beginning to get late, so we decided to pack up and head back to the parking lot. While we were climbing back up the hill to reconnect with the trail, we spotted several large clumps of Pink Lady’s-slipper orchids in perfect bloom. Here is an image of one of those clumps:

What’s so strange about this area (to me, anyway) is finding both Pink Lady’s-slipper orchids and Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids blooming within 10 feet (3 meters) of each other. My scant experience with Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids shows that they prefer a basic soil type and Pink Lady’s-slipper orchids prefer a very acidic soil type. Strange, I thought, that they should both be blooming so close together…

So, we head back down the 2-mile (3.2-km) trail to the parking lot. When we were almost back to the truck, we spotted a couple of Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids up the hillside:

Note the small, 1-inch (2.5-cm) pouch and the dark sepals and petals. I believe that this is what can truly be called a Small Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchid.

Nearby, I found what I consider to be the best Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchid of the day. With its 2-inch+ (2.5 cm) lip and green petals and sepals, it was fresh and perfect in all respects:

We finished photographing these beauties, and headed back down the trail to the truck. All in all, not a bad day in the field. The Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids were not as plentiful or in as nice shape as they were last year, but finding the One-flowered Broom Rape for the first time and finding the large clumps of Pink Lady’s-slipper orchids made up for that, I think. It turns out that Transylvania County, North Carolina is a botanical hot-spot in the Southeast. I’m happy to live so near to such a fabulous botanical region.

We are about at the peak of the Spring wildflower season in the Carolinas, but there are a few more sites still left to visit in the coming weeks. Stay tuned…

–Jim