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Purple Fringed Orchids - 2019 Southern Nantahala Wilderness Area |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2019) |
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Purple Fringed Orchids - 2019 Southern Nantahala Wilderness Area |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2019) |
| I hadn't visited my colonies of Small Purple Fringed Orchids in several years, so, estimating it was about bloom time, made the long trek up the mountain. May 30, 2019: |
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| Tassel Rue, aka Bugbane (Trautvetteria caroliniensis) was growing along the creek on the way up. |
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| Spiderwort (Tradescantia sp.) |
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| Flame Azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum) was still blooming as I climbed higher. |
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| In 2015, I came across these Small (or Lesser) Purple Fringed Orchids high up on the mountain near our house. There was one main colony, and two nearby small clumps (one of which washed away in floods of two years ago). I hadn't gone up to see them in bloom since 2016, and almost missed them again; they were slightly beyond peak bloom. I counted 24 plants in bloom at the larger colony, an increase from the 15 I had counted back in 2015. |
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| Part of the Purple Fringed Orchid (Platanthera psycodes) colony |
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| Flower detail |
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| Broad-leaf Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum canadense) |
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| Tributary creek bed |
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| Hog rooting adjacent to location in previous image. |
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| With 5 flower stalks, this Showy Orchis was probably a beauty a month prior. |
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| Ramp (Allium tricoccum) buds. These aren't often seen in flower. |
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| Ramp Buds. I would have liked to have seen this in flower, but it's a long way to climb just for that. |
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| Summer Bluets (Houstonia purpurea) |
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| Whorled Loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia) |
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| Whorled Loosestrife flower |
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| Fly on Loosestrife leaf. Possibly a Flesh Fly (Sarcophaga sp.). |