Blue Ridge Parkway Adventure — orchids and other wildflowers, and some critters — 2015-06-24

This is going to be a lengthy blog posting, because I managed to stop and photograph a lot of wildflowers on this trip. So allow yourself a bit of time to read this report.

Fifteen hours and 465 miles (750 km) later, I am still amazed at the wildflowers that were in bloom along the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. The initial reason for this trip was to photograph (for the 1000th time) the beautiful Platanthera psycodes or Small Purple Fringed orchids that grow along the access road from the BRP to Mt. Mitchell State Park. The last week in June is now the time to find them in full bloom. Ten years ago, the full bloom time was the first week in July, so some type of warming is in effect causing the flowers to bloom a bit earlier.

Small Purple Fringed orchid

I did eventually make it to Mt. Mitchell State Park, but before I got there, I managed to stop several times along the Parkway to photograph the wildflowers. One problem with this is the lack of decent places to pull over out of the way of traffic. Fortunately, there was very little traffic early in the morning on a weekday.

The first place I stopped was a location for Actaea racemosa or Black Cohosh. It has commonly been used to treat symptoms of menopause, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), painful menstruation, acne, weakened bones (osteoporosis), and for starting labor in pregnant women. In the past, Black cohosh was consumed for a number of additional uses such as anxiety, rheumatism, fever, sore throat, and cough, but it is not often used for these purposes these days. The fuzzy white flowers appear as a spike along the end of a tall (sometimes 40-50 inches or 100-125 cm) stalk. They do a bang-up job of attracting all sorts of insects — mostly beetles:

Nearby, were a couple of blue flowers. One was Tradescantia virginiana subaspera or Zig-zag Spiderwort.[Thanks Dan Miles, for setting me straight on this identification!] On the Spiderwort, was a beautiful Strangalia luteicornis or Zebra striped Longhorn Beetle. All the flowering plants in the area were home to a host of beetles and flies:

Another low-growing plant is one that I’ve seen as a noxious weed my front yard from time to time. It is an import from Asia called Commelina communis or Asiatic dayflower. There is another similar Dayflower species that is native to the Southeast: Virginia Dayflower, but I understand that it is not as aggressive and is fairly easy to manage in a garden setting.

Across the road were a number of quite tall plants that I have seen along roadsides from time to time: Verbascum thapsus or Common mullein. These plants have thick pubescent leaves and flowers from which a tea can be brewed. This tea is used for cough, whooping cough, tuberculosis, bronchitis, hoarseness, pneumonia, earaches, colds, chills, flu, swine flu, fever, allergies, tonsillitis, and sore throat. Other uses include asthma, diarrhea, colic, gastrointestinal bleeding, migraines, joint pain, and gout. It is also used as a sedative and as a diuretic to increase urine output. Mullein is applied to the skin for wounds, burns, hemorrhoids, bruises, frostbite, and skin infections (cellulitis). The leaves are used topically to soften and protect the skin. Sounds like a plant you’d like to have around if you partake in home remedies:

Another yellow flower that was in great abundance was Coreopsis major or Whorled Coreopsis. It was not only growing on the ground next to the road, but it also found a place in the cracks and crevices of the rocky cliff face:

I finished with the yellow wildflowers, packed my camera gear, and headed up the road. I had no sooner pulled back onto the roadway, when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It turned out to be three large Meleagris gallopavo or Eastern Wild Turkeys! At other times when I’ve seen these beautiful birds, they have wasted no time running (rarely flying) back into the woods, but these young males did not seem to be disturbed by my shiny silver vehicle, so I pulled back onto the shoulder and waited a bit to see what would happen. They were apparently unperturbed, so I slowly opened the truck door and got my camera gear from the backseat. At this point, they were about 60 feet (20 meters) away and leisurely strutting around, occasionally pecking at something on the ground. So, I set up my tripod and took a few shots:

I was absolutely amazed at the way the sunlight glinted off the feathers. I’ve found the occasional turkey feather in the woods, but the iridescent color of the feathers on this live bird was just fantastic. I know this is a male bird due to the “beard” hanging from his chest. Here is a shot of one of the other turkeys as it walked within 15 feet (5 meters) of my truck:

The “beard” can be more easily seen in the shot, above.

I ended up spending more time with these gentle creatures than I had planned, so it was now time to head on up the road to Mt. Mitchell and the orchids. However, life is what happens when you try to make plans, and I just had to stop on the roadside when I saw a large area of yellow and blue. These were Cichorium intybus or Common Chicory and some species of Dandelion. The splashes of baby-blue and bright yellow were a bit mesmerizing, so I set up my tripod and took a few shots:

Many varieties are of Common Chicory are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons (blanched buds), or for roots which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. It grows wild on roadsides in its native Europe, and it is now common in North America where it has become widely naturalized. Rarely, pink or even white Common Chicory flowers can be found.

Moving on up the road while constantly gaining altitude, I noticed a number of colorful wildflowers at the base of a wet cliff face. One of these was Oenothera fruiticosa subsp. tetragona or Common Sundrops also known as Evening Primrose:

No more than a few feet away were the stunning crimson flowers of Silene virginica or Fire Pink. Except, perhaps, for Lobelia cardinalis or Cardinal Flower, which is a later summer bloomer, this is the reddest flower I have ever seen. It is so easy to spot while driving these mountain roads:

About 5 years ago, near this area, I remembered seeing a native Clematis called Clematis viorna or Vaseflower also known as Leather Flower. Sure enough, after a bit of searching, I found a couple of these vines with its strange, purple flowers:

To make things just a bit more unreal, I spotted the flowers of the beautiful, Aquilegia canadensis or Eastern Red Columbine. I’ve seen these plants scattered up and down the Parkway at elevation. I suspect that I was currently around 5000 feet (1525 meters) in elevation:

I had been seeing roadside sprays of lovely bright pink flower heads bobbing in the wind. When I found another place to pull off the Parkway, I managed to capture an image of Spiraea japonica or Japanese Spiraea. This is another import that was brought to North America intentionally as an ornamental for gardens. Like other “escapees”, it seems to have found its happy place in the Appalachian Mountains, and it can now be found in large numbers along roadsides and in fallow fields. It is now considered an invasive, especially by the National Park Service. Remember, the Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Park stretching hundreds of miles from Virginia through western North Carolina:

There is a native Spiraea that has similarly colored flowers: Spiraea tomentosa, but rather than having a flat flower head, it has flowers arranged in narrow, pyramidal clusters.

Continuing the drive, I soon found myself in the clouds at about 6000 feet (1825 meters) in elevation. I was at a place called Craggy Gardens on the Parkway. Craggy Gardens is the site of a special, wet cliff face that provides habitat to a number of rare wildflowers. Today, I was too early for some and too late for others, but I did manage to find a few of them in bloom. The most obvious one was Galax urceolata or simply, Galax. Its spikes of tiny white flowers were waving in the constant wind at this mountain-top location:

At the base of the wet cliff face were drifts of a white, daisy-like flower called Erigeron philadelphicus or Philadelphia Fleabane. These flowers are quite small, and the hundreds of ray petals around the edge of each flower give it the appearance of a fine fringe:

Another very, very tiny white flower was in full bloom, as well. It is Micranthes petiolaris formerly known as Saxifraga michauxii. Due to the heavy wind, I was unable to photograph it at this site, but here is a photograph taken at this site a couple of years ago:

I think the tiny, 1/4-inch (6 mm) flower is incredibly beautiful, but most people can’t appreciate its beauty because the flowers are so small.

At this point, it was just a few miles to the Mt. Mitchell State Park access road, and I was anxious to get there. About halfway between Craggy Gardens and Mt. Mitchell, I have found a couple of Platanthera grandiflora or Large Purple Fringed orchids. On this trip, I did find only a single plant, and it was not in the best of shape. I photographed it anyway, having to prop it up with sticks so that it would not swing so much in the constant wind and fog. Sorry it is not in complete focus:

Finally, I made it to the turn off to Mt. Mitchell. As I drove the access road, I searched the roadside for signs of Platanthera psycodes or Small Purple Fringed orchid. In no time, I began to see the lovely purple spikes, some almost 2 feet (60 cm) tall. Each spike had up to 100 flowers. I found one group of three blooming plants (first image in this blog entry) and I thought it would make a nicely composed image. Here are a couple of other shots of this group:

In the above right shot, it is easy to see how close to the road they were. This area is mowed very early in the spring before the plants spring forth. If they ever decide to mow later in the spring, we would not have these beauties to enjoy. It was at this spot that I noticed an Epargyreus clarus or Silver-spotted Skipper doing its thing with the Small Purple Fringed orchid flowers. I’m a sucker for pollination shots as you might already know. This neat pollination process deserves more space than I can give it here, so I have decided to include those shots in my next blog entry. Stay tuned to this spot…

Just up the road a bit, were a few more Small Purple Fringed orchid plants. Some were quite a bit larger than others:

However, the best is yet to come. A bit farther up the road, on a hillside near the Mt. Mitchell State Park Restaurant, there were large numbers of blooming orchid plants; a sight that was difficult to miss:

This place never fails to amaze me with its display of native orchids. Farther still, up the road, but before the summit, is an area on a steep hillside that contains many plants of a much lighter color — some almost white, but not quite.:

But the day was far from over. I still had plans to drive another 120 miles (200 km) to visit a site for the southernmost occurrence of Platanthera orbiculata or Large-leaved orchid also known as Pad Leaf orchid. So, I ate my prepared lunch of Peanut butter on flat bread and washed it down with an energy drink. Yummmmmmm! Soon, I was on my way to Boone Fork Parking lot off of the Parkway. There are a couple of trails that lead off the parking lot toward Grandfather Mountain. Shortly after hiking one of the trails, I came across this foot bridge that led over a fairly deep chasm:

A few miles up one of those trails is the site for the Pad Leaf orchid. It is a rather tall plant with up to 60, greenish-white orchid flowers. I’m not satisfied with these images, but I thought I’d show a few of them, anyway, to give you a sense of what the plants look like:

The oval, ground-hugging leaves are quite large: up to 8 inches (20 cm) long. The 1.5-inch (37 mm) flowers are green and white and extend about an inch (25 mm) from the stem:

I spent quite some time with these plants, never being fully satisfied with the results. Even though the plants were under the large, enveloping Rhododendron maximum shrubs, there was a constant breeze. In addition, there was very little light to work with, and I do not like the results of fill flash, but I had to accept that I had to use flash if I wanted to get any acceptable shots.

It is from this location that I came to the conclusion that another orchid, diminutive in stature, is possible the most common orchid that can be found in the Southern Appalachian Mountains: Neottia smallii or Appalachian Twayblade orchid. I’ve featured this specific orchid in several of my previous blog entries, but I will include it again, in this blog entry. The plants are always found under Rhododendron maximum or Rosebay Rhododendron shrubs, especially when these shrubs grow near running water. This area is criss-crossed with numerous streams and seeps, providing ample habit for this orchid:

Another orchid species that seems to love the shade and protection of the Rosebay Rhododendron is Goodyera pubescens or Downy Rattlesnake Plantain orchid. The ones I found on this trip were in spike and about ten days to two weeks from blooming. I’m including a full-flowered stem below right so that you know what this spike will look like in a very short time:

I finished up my photography work and headed back to the parking lot. It was only 4:30 pm when I reached the truck, and I knew I still had a few good hours of light left, so I decided to keep heading north on the Parkway to see what I could find. Just a few miles up the road, I had to slam on brakes because of the sight of gorgeous Rhododendron maximum or Rosebay Rhododendron flowers in full bloom. The large majority of these flowers are either white or some shade of pink, but these were pink with a rim of darker pink on the edge of the petals:

After I photographed these beauties, I looked down to what I though was a variegated locust bush. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the lighter design in the center of the leaflets was the work of leaf-miner insects. I was not aware of such things until I came across the blog of Charley Eiseman. His blog is called, “BugTracks“. You see, his expertise is in a field that includes identifying the “tracks” that boring insects make in plant leaves. I sent him the following images, and he quickly identified the tracks as having been made by Parectopa robiniella or Locust Digitate Leafminer. Turns out that the adult insect lays eggs on the leaf. When the eggs hatch, the tiny caterpillar burrows into the leaf and eats the juicy part between the top and bottom of the leaf. How neat is that???:

Driving farther up the Parkway, I kept seeing some dark pink/purple flowers on the edge of the road. I recognized these flowers as belonging to a member of the rose family. They were the flowers of Rubus odoratus or Purple-flowered Raspberry. Another flower that is hard to miss while one is driving the Parkway:

Near these pretty pink/purple flowers were the rather tall stems of Asclepias exaltata or Poke Milkweed. They seem to prefer a more shaded area and are sometimes found in groups of a large number of plants. This is the time of year when a number of our native Milkweed plants are in full bloom as you will soon see:

I soon rounded a corner and saw dozens of Amianthium muscaetoxicum or Fly Poison. Seems that all parts of this plant are poisonous. So, it was discovered that if the roots were ground up and laced with honey, it was a great poison for flies! Who knew?:

It was now getting to be late afternoon, and I was still heading away from home. I decided I’d drive a few more miles, then turn around. Just a few more miles down the road, I began to see signs of another Milkweed plant called Asclepias syriaca or Common Milkweed. This is one species that tends to form a large population of plants. When you get close to the flowers, you quickly notice a strong, sweet fragrance… and lots and lots of bees and butterflies. This species is also quite variable in color, and I suspect that it might even cross with some of the other Milkweed species like Poke Milkweed, for instance. In any case, here is an image of one of the Common Milkweed flowers I came across:

Another Milkweed species that was in the immediate area is Asclepias tuberosa or Butterfly Milkweed. Its bright orange flowers stand out against the green and brown of the roadside:

I spent a bit of time among the 5- to 6-foot plants of the Common Milkweed hoping to capture some butterfly images. I didn’t have to wait for very long. There were dozens of Speyeria cybele or Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies swarming the sweet-smelling flowers. Here are a few of the many shots I was able to capture just by standing still next to the plants:

After a few minutes, I was able to capture one of the Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies on the smaller Butterfly Milkweed:

I had a three-hour drive ahead of me, and I was a bit worn out from all of the hiking, driving, and excitement. Some of what I found was expected, but even with the expected, there are always a few surprises. That’s what is so special for me about getting out in the wild and away from the stress of the city. I will always prefer nature over city life, and I hope I will always be able to live as close to the wild mountains as I do now.

The next installment will cover the pollination of the Small Purple Fringed orchid by one of its pollinators, the Silver Spotted Skipper. Until next time…

-Jim