1 - Late September 2022
Returning from a botanical survey in the Upper Tallulah River area, I stopped
by a site where I've found Appalachian Gentians for several years now:
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Appalachian Gentian, aka Showy Gentian (Gentiana decora)
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I was a bit early for this species, and only found a few flowers in bloom.
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2 - Mid October 2022
Postponing our prior plan to photograph some N.A. rock art sites,
I met up with Alan C and Noah Y for some late fall botanizing. We
decided to check out the Appalachian Gentian site first:
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There are two Gentian locations here, about a mile apart.
We drove to the farthest one first...
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The more we looked, the nicer the flower clusters we found...
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Appalachian Gentians (Gentiana decora)
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Gentiana decora
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Colorful Maple leaves
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Exploring the second area, we found yet more beautiful blooms.
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Gentiana decora
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Gentiana decora
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We all thought these were the nicest specimens of this species that we had ever seen.
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3 - Dickenson Branch Botanical Area
Next we visited this ultramafic barrens and woodlands
near Popcorn Overlook, to look for a rare fern:
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Dunite barrens...
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You can see that the Forest Service conducts regular burns in this area.
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Quite a few unusual plants grow in this ultramafic habitat.
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I was surprised to see flowers of Nodding
Onion (Allium cernuum) still in bloom.
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Alabama Grapefern, aka Dixie Grapefern (Sceptridium jenmanii)
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This fern species is extremely rare in Georgia,
and this is likely the only population in the state.
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The fertile spore-bearing stalk of this specimen is just maturing.
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Cut-leaf Grapefern (Sceptridium dissectum)
A number of this more common fern were also present.
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