Polygala paucifolia, Paw-paw, and Pinxter Azalea (periclymenoides) on Pinnacle Mountain in Pickens County, South Carolina — 2013-04-21

OK, a little alliteration never hurt anybody. This was one trip I had been wanting to take for quite a while. I had arranged to meet my friend, Diane Creaton, from the South Carolina Native Plant Society, at Table Rock State Park to make the 7-mile round-trip hike up the side of Pinnacle Mountain, the tallest mountain (at 3,415 feet or 1,041 meters) that is contained entirely within the state, to see Polygala paucifolia or Gaywings also known as Fringed Polygala, and whatever else that would show itself along the way. Gaywings is the largest flowering species of the genus, Polygala.

The U.S. Forest Services describes Gaywings as:

The light pink to deep magenta flowers are made up of five sepals and three petals. The sepals consist of three small outer and two large, showy petal-like “wings”. Of the petals, two are united to form a tubular structure, with the third keeled or boat-shaped petal cresting in a delicate yellow or pink fringe or frill. The keel encloses the reproductive structures, and when a bug lands on the keel, these structures are exposed for pollination.

We were still having cool mornings this spring, and this morning was no exception. So, we left on our jackets,  gathered our gear in the Table Rock parking lot, and headed up the trail. This is a really pretty walk through the woods. The trail is lined with Rododendron maximum or Great Rhododendron and Kalmia latifolia or Mountain laurel. Below, are images of those two species in bloom — the flowers usually appearing around mid- to late-June:

I wasn’t quite sure I was prepared for such a strenuous hike, but Diane said we would go at a slow pace and enjoy the flowers along the way. Almost immediately, we saw one of my favorite wild azaleas, Rhododendron periclymenoides or Pinxter Azalea blooming beside the trail:

This shrubby azalea can be as tall as 15 feet (5 meters), but most of them are much shorter. The sweet fragrance of the flowers is remarkable, often identifying itself to the hiker well before being seen.

A bit farher up the trail, and out of the corner of my eye, I spot a spot of bright pink just above the leaves on the forest floor. It is our friend, Trillium Catesbaei or Catesby’s Trillium. I’ve mentioned this species in several previous blogs, noting the extreme variability in its color and the way it presents its flowers to the viewer. This one, although rather large at (2.5 inches or 6 cm) across, was the “typical” nodding form with the flower hanging below the leaves:

Note the bright pink color of the recurved petals and the egg-yolk color of the stamens. A real beauty…

We contiued plodding up the sometimes steep trail talking about some of the many, varied species that we were seeing. Diane mentioned that she had previously seen Asimina parviflora or Small flower Paw-paw also known as Dwarf Paw-paw in a nearby spot along the trail. Sure enough, around the corner we spot a couple of plants of the shrubby, Dwarf Paw-paw:

The flowers of this native shrub are about 1/2 inch (1 cm) in width, with brownish, leather-like petals.

It wasn’t long before we saw its larger, more robust cousin, Asimina triloba or Common Paw-paw:

The flowers of this species can be up to 1.5 inches (~4 cm) wide borne on a tree that may attain 30 feet (9 meters) in height. Both species produce an edible fruit that is said to be quite delicious. Here is the link to a cute and very informative NPR feature video about the Paw-paw. I highly suggest you watch it to get a better idea of the lure this species has on humans.

Another native species that we were seeing in abundance, is Calycanthus floridus orSweet Shrub. It gets its common name from the distinct fragrance its crushed flowers emit — both sweet and spicy like cloves. This species is rather ubiquitous in the Piedmont and Mountains of South Carolina. These large shrubby plants can be as tall as 9 feet (3 meters), and its branches are often loaded with many of these unusual looking flowers:

Finally, after several hours of uphill climbing and a few breaks to snack on granola bars and trail mix, we arrive at Mill Creek. Diane had said that we should start seeing signs of our elusive Gaywings near the Creek. Sure enough, there were a few scattered here and there along the trail, but they were not fully open. Bummer! It appeared that we were about four or five days early. I suppose that the very cool weather we had experienced the past couple of weeks had prevented the flowers from opening.

Never the pessimest, Diane suggested that we ford the creek and check a more sunny spot on the other side where she had seen a large population in previous years. So, we forded Mill Creek and headed farther up the trail to a spot about 500 feet (~150 meters) away. Soon, we began to see a large number of buds and partially opened flowers:

That last image is one of a pollinator (butterfly/moth ?) spending quite some time working on getting nectar from a freshly-opened flower. I don’t know the identity of the pollinator, but we did see it visit several newly-opened flowers during our short stay.

After careful searching, we finally found a handfull of 1-inch wide (2.5 cm) flowers that were open, displaying their beautiful magenta-colored petals and that curious pom-pom structure on the tip of the flower. They were just off and on both sides of the trail:

As you will notice, a greater number of these short (~3 inch or 7.5 cm) plants produce flowers in pairs — either two or four flowers, although some produce only one flower. I have seen images of a pure white form, but we didn’t see any on this trip. Also notice that the pom-poms can be deep magenta or white, or a combination of these two colors.

We spent more than an hour photographing these flowers, and at one point, both of us found ourselves sitting there, just admiring their beauty. We wondered if any of the many hikers that would be walking past these flowers during the next week would even notice them or be curious enough to take a closer look…

Slowly, we packed our gear and headed back down the mountain. Shortly after re-fording Mill Creek, we looked off to the side of the trail where we had earlier seen some plants in bud, and farther in the distance there was a huge patch of Gaywings in flower! — we had missed it on the hike up the mountain. The image below represents just a small portion of the hundreds of plants at this spot:

As expected, the trip down was much quicker and a bit less strenuous (although we managed to exercise an entirely different set of muscles). I had neglected to bring my lunch (two peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches) with me on the hike up the mountain, so I really enjoyed it when I got back to the truck.

We loaded up our vehicles and agreed that we had witnessed a special treat up on the mountain. Promising to get together again on another field trip this spring, we parted and left behind those delicate spring ephemerals in the woods of Pinnacle Mountain…

— Jim