 |
Chestnut Branch Spring 2019 |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2019) |
|
Chestnut Branch Spring 2019 |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2019) |
| An exploration for wildflowers yielded a new species for me, among other more common finds. |
|
 |
|
| I initially drove up to Perry Gap to check on the Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens) |
|
 |
|
| Stopping at Chestnut Branch, I spied a plant in flower that I had not encountered before. Fraser's Sedge (Carex fraseriana) |
|
 |
|
| Fraser's Sedge flowers |
|
 |
|
| I wouldn't have known what this sedge was if I hadn't recalled my friend Don Hunter recently posting photos of a plant he had seen at Coweeta. |
|
 |
|
| More flowers |
|
 |
|
| Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba) |
|
 |
|
| Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum), waiting to bloom |
|
 |
|
| Trout Lily (Erythronium umbilicatum) |
|
| On my first visit, the Fraser's Sedge flowers weren't fully open, and the lighting wasn't very good, so I made a return visit in the drizzly rain five days later: |
|
 |
|
| Much better lighting! Sedges are typically grasslike plants with inconspicuous flowers, growing in tufts on wet ground. However, this sedge is quite different - it forms clumps of large, leathery, evergreen leaves, with striking white flowers. Unlike most members of the sedge family, which are wind-pollinated, Fraser's sedge is primarily pollinated by insects, which are attracted to the showy white inflorescences. An uncommon native of the southern Appalachians, the plant is Endangered or Threatened in most states in which is found. |
|
 |
|
| The flowers were more open than on my earlier visit, although a bit soggy from the rain. |
|
 |
|
| Fraser's Sedge flower |
|
 |
|
| Fraser's Sedge in habitat |
|
 |
|
| A group of Sedge flowers |
|
 |
|
| Hepatica |
|
 |
|
| Trout Lily |
|
 |
|
| Yellow Violet |
|
 |
|
| Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides), in bud |