Looking for orchids and wildflowers in the Foothills and Mountains of the Carolinas — Part 1 — 2014-06-07

On Saturday morning, I left early for a full day’s field trip to the foothills and mountains of the Carolinas. My main goal was to photograph the flowers of Cleistesiopsis bifaria or Small Spreading Pogonia orchid. I had seen it in bud in an upstate South Carolina heritage preserve a couple of weeks ago, and I guessed that it would now be in full bloom. The mountain road up to the site was presenting me with numerous photographic opportunities, but I had to remain focused on the orchids at the end of the trail.

I finally arrived at the site, gathered my camera gear, and headed off down the trail to the orchid location. They are growing in deep woods with very little light — that light being dappled at best. That is the reason (I believe) that the flower parts are such a pale green, very much unlike their coastal plain counterpart, Cleistesiopsis oricamporum or Coastal Plain Spreading Pogonia also known as Small Rosebud orchid. See this blog entry for examples of the coastal plain version of this orchid.

Anyway, here is what I found:

Unlike its coastal plain cousin, there is very little color in the throat and lip. I have seen these orchids at this very location with a bit of magenta and yellow color on the ridges in the center of the lip, but this season, that color seems to be absent. A couple of weeks ago, I had managed to locate three budding plants, but today, one of them was browsed down to the ground! I guess they provide some tasty treats for the local deer population. Orchids seem to be a favorite of many of the woodland critters — I can’t hold it against them, I love them, too…

Here are a couple of additional shots of the two plants I found in bloom:

I finished photographing these beautiful orchids and headed back down the road to another heritage preserve where I had also seen them in bloom a few years ago. But, along the way, I made a point to stop to photograph the several color forms of Asclepias tuberosa or Butterfly Milkweed that I had seen on the trip up to the orchid location. They were growing just next to the gravel road:

And, naturally, it got its common name for its ability to attract butterflies. Here is a Papilio glaucus or Tiger Swallowtail butterfly taking a sip of nectar from the flowers:

I finally arrived at the other heritage preserve which is at a much lower elevation. By this time of day, the sun was beginning to warm up the ground, forming morning convection currents which create those pesky breezes that are a bane for wildflower photographers. However, I wasn’t letting that dampen my enthusiasm, so I gathered my camera gear, water, and trail mix, and I set off down the trail…

It wasn’t long before I saw numerous, small white flowers just next to the trail. These were in full bloom and beckoned me to stop and take a closer look. They were Chimaphila umbellata or Striped wintergreen also known as Pipsissewa. Actually, these plants are not what we usually think of as wintergreen — that aromatic and tasty green plant whose leaves, when crushed, gives that cool taste to chewing gum, mouthwash, and toothpaste. However, the striped leaves of Striped wintergreen have a beauty of their own, and the umbel of white flowers is a wonderful sight to see in the late spring:

Just down the trail were plants with clusters of tiny white flowers. I knew this one to be Ceanothus americanus or New Jersey tea. It is said that the early settlers used the leaves of this plant to brew a poor substitution for the more expensive imported tea:

Continuing on down the trail, I soon come to a hillside loaded with Diphasiastrum digitatum or Southern Ground Cedar. Among the sprigs of Southern Ground Cedar was a delicate little fern which I think is Athyrium filix-femina or Lady fern. I hope, dear reader, that you will correct my fern identification if you think I’ve mis-identified it. I am woefully ignorant of the ferns…

In any case, this verdant sight always pushes my buttons, since I just love the green-on-green which carpets the forest floor.

Just to my right, was a spider’s web, glistening in the dappled sunlight. Upon close inspection, I saw that it was a Leucauge venusta or Orchard spider, a common sight in these parts of the mountains. While I was attempting to photograph it, a small insect was nabbed for a quick lunch. If you look closely at the image, you will see a dark, round ball near the spider’s mouth. That’s what remains of the unfortunate insect:

Proceeding on down the trail, I came to a pond which was home to a strange little water plant called Sparganium americanum or American Bur-reed. Like some other water-loving plants, it has both male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers on the same plant. The male flowers are located toward the top of the stem, while the female flowers are located below. I managed to capture one of the plump, female flowers toward the bottom of the image:

Proceeding around the pond, I located the area where I had seen Cleistesiopsis bifaria in previous years. I managed to find a handful of plants, but they were all sterile and were not going to produce flowers this year. After diligent searching, I did finally manage to find one plant that was in tight bud and probably will be in bloom in two to three weeks — quite late for the ones at this location.

Well, I was done at this orchid site, so I decided to take the alternate way back to the truck. Continuing to wind my way around the pond, I came upon a group of Pogonia ophoiglossoides or Rose Pogonia orchid. I had seen them next to the pond a couple of years ago, and I was quite pleased to see that they were in pretty good shape today. There were a few dozen of them growing in the pond grasses, so I retrieved my camera and set up next to the edge of the pond for a few shots:

It was getting late, and I had another fifty miles to drive to my next location, so I proceeded down the trail to my truck. On the way, I found that the Rhododendron maximum or Rosebay Rhododendron was just coming into bloom. It is the largest of our native Rhododendron species, reaching twenty to thirty feet tall. The clusters of white to pink flowers are always a welcome summer sight in the woods of the Southern Appalachian Mountains:

Up the trail from the Rhododendron were quite a few shrubs with clusters of white flowers. These beauties are a native Hydrangea called Hydrangea radiata or Silverleaf Hydrangea. I’m sorry that I didn’t think to photograph the underside of the leaves, since they are indeed silvery white due to a dense covering of white, felt-like hairs. Here are the flowers of this native shrub:

What appear to be large, white flowers around the periphery of the corymb (a flower cluster whose lower stalks are proportionally longer so that the flowers form a flat or slightly convex head) are actually showy, sterile flowers. The true, fertile flowers are in the center, but in this image, they are not yet open. These bright white flower clusters make quite a statement, and I would think that they would be suitable for a garden setting. These shrubby plants lined the trail for a hundred yards or more.

Almost back to the truck, I spotted a glimpse of white in the woods. I immediately recognized it as a Scutellaria species. I know that there are many species of that genus in the region, and I am thinking that this one is Scutellaria elliptica or Hairy Skullcap. I also know that the flowers are quite variable, so seeing a white-capped one and a purple one in the same area did not seem odd. However, as usual, I could be mistaken in my identification of these two plants:

What a great day, so far. I reached the truck, packed my gear, and popped open a bag of Trail Mix. After taking a sip of water, I headed on to my next destination — the Pisgah National Forest — in search of Neottia smallii or Appalachian Twayblade orchid. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this weekend’s adventure…

–Jim