Neottia (Listera) smallii — Appalachian Twayblade orchid in the Pisgah National Forest — 2016-06-16

Mid-June is the time of the year to see Neottia (Listera) smallii or Appalachian Twayblade orchid in bloom in our area. The best place that I know to find them is in the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, North Carolina. I put Listera in parentheses because all of the North American species that were formerly in the genus, Listera, were moved to the genus, Neottia. That means job security for full-time botanists.

This particular orchid species is not mentioned in some county lists due to the fact that they are tiny and difficult to find. They prefer to grow under the overhanging branches of Rhododendron maximum or Rosebay Rhododendron near wet depressions or streams. If you have ever tried to make your way through these Rhododendron “Hells”, then you know what I’m talking about — the tangle of limbs almost at ground level makes it nearly impossible to navigate through. Here is a YouTube video that describes a Rhododendron “Hell”. The one I experienced did not have a large opening like the one in the video, it was just a jumble of low-growing branches. Once inside the canopy, there is hardly any room even to sit up without having to bend over. Setting up a tripod (necessary because of low light levels) is a challenge.

When discussing this orchid species in previous blog entries, I have mentioned that I believe this species to be one of the most common orchids in the Southern Appalachian Mountain region. But the difficulty of getting to the places where they like to hang out prevents most searchers from knowing that they are there. Few amateur naturalists/botanists have seen it because of this difficulty. I recently had a reader tell me that he had found it in a nearby location that he had visited for years, but because he had not ventured under the Rhododendron maximum canopy, he had not found them until he read my blog entry describing their preferred habitat. He went out and found them almost immediately.

So, I set out on my day trip to the Pisgah National Forest. However, before I arrived in Brevard (1.5 hours from home), I took a side trip up Persimmon Ridge Road in northern Greenville County, South Carolina. It is one of my favorite wildflowers locations in just about any season. I knew it was about time for Asclepias tuberosa or Butterfly Milkweed to be in bloom. Butterfly Milkweed is quite common in the Southeast, but the special thing about those on Persimmon Ridge Road is the variety of coloration in the flowers.

For the most part, Butterfly Milkweed flowers are a uniform shade of bright orange. They are quite easy to see along roadsides in the area due to their bright color. From time to time, they can be found with some strange color variations. Here are a few shots of those that I photographed in northern Greenville County:

Butterfly Milkweed

Near the Milkweed plants, was a small yellow flower which looked familiar, but I was not sure I had ever photographed it. It turned out to be Lysimachia lanceolata or Lanceleaf Loosestrife, and no, I had never photographed this particular species. This is a species that is very similar to our more common Lysimachia quadrifolia or Whorled Loosestrife, but the Lanceleaf Loosestrife has narrow, lance-shaped leaves:

Persimmon Ridge Road intersects, at its northern end, Hwy. 276. This is the highway I usually take to get to Brevard, North Carolina, and the Pisgah National Forest. All along this highway, I saw numerous large shrubs with corymbs of white flowers. It is Hydrangea radiata or Silverleaf Hydrangea — a native Hydrangea which is endemic to the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee — found only in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It is called Silverleaf Hydrangea because of the silvery-white color of the under side of the leaves. This color is due to the short, white, dense mat of hairs that cover the under side of the leaf. Here is a shot of the under side and upper side of a leaf from one of these plants:

The corymbs of flowers are quite striking and unusual. The true flowers are located in the center and are tiny, white structures with miniscule petals, made up mainly of the reproductive parts. On the periphery of the corymb are found the large, sterile flowers. Beetles and other insects find the flowers irresistible, as evidenced in the following shots:

Even though this is an endemic, it is locally abundant, lining the rocky roadside for miles.

I finally made it to the location for Appalachian Twayblade orchids in the Pisgah National Forest. There are 4 sites within a relatively small area where I have found the flowers — quite abundant in some years. The first site I visited showed me only juvenile plants with just the pair of leaves and no flowers. I was disappointed, because this is the site where I usually find the larger plants. So, I moved across the road to the second site. Again, only leafless plants — lots of them, but no flowers.

Time to visit my third site. It is located near a small stream with a thick growth of Rhododendron maximum. Here I found numerous flowerless plants, but after diligently searching under the Rhododendron and next to the stream, I managed to locate a single plant in bloom. Whew! I thought I was skunked. Thinking that this might be the only flowering specimen I would find, I took photos of the flowers from several angles:

OK, I grant you that this is not something you would write home about, but it is a native orchid with a bit of charm. I’ve heard the flower described as “a bird in flight wearing a bib”. That yellow thingy on the lip of the orchid in the above image is the pollinia that was left behind by a pollinator. Sometimes, the pollinator will find attached pollinia to be a nuisance, and scrape it off before visiting another flower. Of course, this defeats the purpose, but it is what it is…

The flower color of this orchid species varies from lime green to a rosy tan, with most of the flowers being some shade of brownish-green. The flowers are only slightly larger than 1/4 inch (6 mm) wide, and they are borne on a thin, hairy stem from 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm) tall. The color of the flowers makes them difficult to see against the leaf litter under the Rhododendrons. I usually look for a pair of bright green leaves when trying to locate the flowers.

After photographing this single, flowering orchid specimen, I moved on to my fourth and final site. It was just down the road and, of course, next to a small stream. I had found plants at this site a couple of years ago, but the 50-yard (~50-meter) trek into the site was grueling. I had to either walk in the stream or crawl through the dense thickets of Rhododendron that bordered the stream. Today, I did a bit of both. Along the way, I saw a small population of Galax urceolata or Galax also known as Beetleweed. The tall, white spires of tiny flowers just begged to be photographed:

The glossy, evergreen leaves are sometimes taken for decoration during the winter season. I have cringed when coming across people gathering handfuls of the leaves, but apparently, it doesn’t do a lot of harm to the plants, because they come back just as robustly each year.

I eventually made it to the spot with a just a few scratches and wet feet, but the challenging hike in was worth it. Before me were about 20 plants in bud or in full bloom. I set about trying to work my way into the thicket and arrange my body and my tripod so that I was not damaging any of the plants. Most of the blooming plants were farther away from the stream than the non-blooming ones, so this was not an easy task. Here is a selection of shots of the plants at the fourth site:

Well, my day was now complete. I had found what I was looking for. This is not always the case. Just recently, I had driven several hours into the mountains of North Carolina to try to locate an orchid species that I have not been able to photograph. After arriving and hiking in about 1/2 mile (~800 meters), the plants were not to be found. It was a nice drive, and I was able to see some beautiful scenery — but no orchids.

On the way back to Greenville, I stopped at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Brevard where I had my usual meal, Chicken Taco Salad. Yuuuuummmmm! A great, light meal to top off the day’s adventure.

The next trip will take me back to a location I have visited each year for almost a decade — Mt. Mitchell State Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. Here, I expect to find many thousands of Platanthera psycodes or Small Purple Fringed orchids in glorious bloom. Stay tuned…

–Jim