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Spring Wildflowers 2021 Cherokee National Forest, Polk Co., TN |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2021) |
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Spring Wildflowers 2021 Cherokee National Forest, Polk Co., TN |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2021) |
| A month after my earlier explorations, I made a return visit to Polk Co., TN, with the main goal of finding an uncommon orchid, Wister's Coralroot (Corallorhiza wisteriana). I found it, as well as several other species that we don't normally see around home in NE Georgia. |
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| Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata) was growing like a weed in some places! This group was on a bank of the forest road. |
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| Bleeding Hearts (Dicentra eximia) This was the first time I've come across this species in the wild. |
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| Unfortunately they were faded and well past their prime, but it was still great to finally find a wild population. |
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| Purple Phacelia, aka Fern-leaf Phacelia (Phacelia bipinnatifida) |
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| Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) Usually I find this growing up on a tree, but a tree with some vines on it had fallen down close to the road. |
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| Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) |
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| Fire Pink (Silene virginica) A fairly common species around home, these were the first I'd seen in bloom this year. |
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| Mountain Doghobble, aka Fetterbush (Leucothoe fontanesiana) |
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| Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) Arguably one of the most common spring wildflowers, but I liked this little group growing on a cliff face. |
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| My main target for the day was Wister's Coralroot (Corallorhiza wisteriana), which is not at all common up here in the mountains. |
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| Wister's Coralroot |
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| Wister's Coralroot (Corallorhiza wisteriana) - flower detail. |
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| Wister's Coralroot |
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| Wister's Coralroot The species is similar, although larger, to the Fall Coralroots that grow around our home. |
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| Wister's Coralroot (Corallorhiza wisteriana) - another close-up of the flowers |
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| Most of the Wister's Coralroots were single plants, with a few growing in pairs, but this bunch consisted of about nine stalks. |
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| Jack in the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) There were a lot of these striped forms of the flower growing in this area. |
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| Trillium luteum A trillium that's not found around our home, even though we're just a little over an hour away. |
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| Many of the Trillium luteums here had odd petals. Compare this with the more "normal" flower in the previous image. |
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| Another example of the weird Trillium luteum flower petals. |
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| A nice little grouping of Trillium luteums |
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| Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata) |