The elusive Large Purple Fringed orchid in north Georgia — 2015-06-12

On Friday, June 12, 2015, a group of us got together to go on a field trip in extreme north central Georgia to search for Platanthera grandiflora or Large Purple Fringed orchid. The group consisted of Alan Cressler, Steve Bowling (Atlanta Botanical Garden), Brad Wilson, Matt Richards (Conservation Coordinator at Atlanta Botanical Garden), Chuck Wilson and yours truly. We met at the McDonald’s in Blue Ridge, Georgia and after exchanging hellos, we set out to visit the first of only two locations in Georgia for this locally rare orchid.

Platanthera grandiflora is a North American east coast species and is found from Georgia to Newfoundland, Canada, but is quite rare in the southern states. In fact, my understanding is that there are only two sites for it in Georgia, and we would be visiting both of them on this trip. The first site is in Gilmer County, Georgia and it requires a tortuous, 4-mile (6.5-km) drive up a narrow, winding, mountain road. Once we reached the end of this road, an uphill hike of 2.5 miles (4 km) is in order. This narrow foot-trail skirts some low-lying mountains and ends up on a ridge line on the northwest side of a mountain covered with lush vegetation. I had been to this site in the Chattahoochee National Forest in May of 2012, at which time we found only a couple of plants in bloom (four or five open flowers total, as I recall). Since this is the southern terminus for this species, one cannot expect that it would occur in large numbers or that the plants be robust and floriferous.

In any case, here is an image of one of the couple of inflorescences we found at this site:

Large Purple Fringed orchid

By necessity, these plants grow in dappled shade within or no more than a foot or so (30 cm) of the seeps or streams which keep their roots cool and wet. My experience of seeing other sites for this species in the south (North Carolina, for instance) show a preference for similar environments.

Here are a couple of additional shots of this plant — the second shot shows a smaller one just at its feet:

I was hoping that this site would provide more robust plants than we saw in 2012, but I believe some modest thinning of the canopy would be necessary for the plants to flourish.

We made the trip back down the trail to our vehicles in good time, because it was downhill most of the way. Some of the crew had other commitments, so they could not tag along to our second stop of the day. But Chuck, Alan, Steve, and I made the half-hour trip to the second site. This site is in Union County, barely over the Lumpkin County line, but still in the lush Chattahoochee National Forest. This year had brought heavy, spring rains, so we all felt that this next site would provide plenty of the required water to keep the hillside seep wet enough to meet the strict requirements for this orchid species.

We arrived at the site, and immediately saw a tall flower spike loaded with pinkish-purple orchid flowers. That was a great sight for us. In addition, we soon located a couple of other smaller spikes, one with only 5 or 6 flowers. These specimens were growing at the edge of a seep cut by the road way. To get to them required a rather dangerous climb on slippery rocks and mud about 10 to 12 feet (3 to 4 meters) from the road bed with nothing to grab on to or steady ourselves on the way up (or down, for that matter). Once up to the level of the plants, getting a stable footing was also a problem since the sloping seep was topped with slippery, moss-covered rocks. But we all made it, one-at-a-time and took our time capturing images of these beautiful orchid plants. Here are some of the shots I made of two of the plants:

I even managed to spot a bumble bee (Bombus species) visiting a few of the flowers, but I was unable to capture an in-focus image of the visit, because as it lit on the flower, its weight caused the flower stem to swing back and forth, putting it temporarily out of focus.

Here is a shot of one of the smaller of the three inflorescences we saw. The flowers were a much lighter color than those on the larger inflorescence. I’d love to photograph this plant if and when it is able to produce a larger inflorescence — perhaps it never will…

In the immediate area, we saw many other wildflower species. Among them were numerous Asclepias exaltata or Poke Milkweed:

and Asclepias variegata or Red-ring Milkweed:

We also saw Asclepias tuberosa or Butterfly Milkweed:

Bright red flowers were also in abundance, including Spigelia Marilandica or Indian Pink:

as well as some rather sizable drifts of large Silene virginica or Fire Pink flowers:

There were even a few specimens of what we all agreed were Rhododendron bakeri which is synonymous with R. cumberlandense which is known as Cumberland Azalea. Even though it closely resembles R. calendulaceum or Flame Azalea, its later bloom time and its glossy, deep green leaves inform us it is a different species:

I was quite pleased as well as surprised to see so many late spring or early summer wildflowers in full bloom along the roads in the Chattahoochee National Forest. Although I was just a bit disappointed in not finding larger orchid plants on this trip, I am ok with this because of the understanding that we are lucky to find any of this orchid species so far south. Perhaps some judicious management in the form of canopy reduction will allow the remaining plants to thrive and multiply.

So ends another day in the field with friends who share the same passion for wildflowers that brings me so much pleasure. Whoever said that it is the simple things in life that bring such joy was correct. These simple things are free to the extent that all we have to do is open our eyes to enjoy them.

Until next time,

–Jim