A Quick Walk up Ash Hopper Branch

 Took a quick walk up Ashhopper Branch, the other day.  Unfortunately couldn't spend too much time, but saw a few cool plants!

Here is a Maidenhair Fern, Adiantum pedatum, uncurling its fronds.  This is one of my favorite ferns and it looks so funky as a fiddlehead!

Pennywort, Obolaria virginica, is a flower I've never seen before!

Frozen Head

So... this is not the Smokies, but it is still the southern Appalachians.  Last week on our days off, Kevin and I went to another wildflower hotspot that we had never visited before: Frozen Head State Park.  It was about 2 hours northwest from our house, and west of Knoxville.  What a cool park!

All the trails are dog-friendly so we were able to take our dogs on a great 8-mile hike up Panther Branch Trail and down North Old Mac Trail.  I counted about 40 species of wildflowers!

Here is a new Trillium species.  I am thinking it is Trillium cuneatum, Sweet Betsy or Toad Shade.  However the Trilliums are challenging and I haven't mastered them yet.  

Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum.

DeBord Falls, the first of two waterfalls on our hike.

Some sort of cool cup fungi.  Wish I knew more about fungus...someday!

Spotted Mandarin, Disporum maculatum.  In the Smokies I have seen Yellow Mandarin, but never

Spotted!

Luna Moth, Actias luna.

Large-flowered Bellwort, Uvularia grandiflora.

One of my hiking buddies.

My other hiking buddies.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum.

Trout Lily, Erythronium umbilicatum.

Never seen this one before.  It took me a while to figure out this is Cumberland Spurge, Euphorbia mercurialina.

Wood Violet leaf, Viola palmata. 

Sweet White Violets, Viola blanda.

Violet Wood Sorrel, Oxalis violacea.

Price's Wood Sorrel, Oxalis macrantha.

  

This Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides, had a strong pink hue to it, but only shows up faintly in this photo.

Other species I saw include:

Yellow Trillium, Trillium luteum

Large Flowered Trillium, Trillium grandiflorum

Vasey's Trillium, Trillium vaseyi

Long-spur Violet, Viola rostrata

Common Blue Violet, Viola sororia

Canada Violet, Viola canadensis

Yellow Woodland Violet, Viola pubescens

Halberd-leaved Violet, Viola hastata

Early Yellow Violet, Viola rotundifolia

Dwarf Crested Iris, Iris cristata

Wood Anemone, Anemone quinquefolia

Toothwort, Dentaria diphylla

Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense

Star Chickweed, Stellaria pubera

Blue Phlox, Phlox divaricata

Blue Cohosh, Caulophyllum thalictroides

Dwarf Ginseng, Panax trifolius

Early Meadow Rue, Thalictrum diocum

Squawroot, Conopholis americana

Foamflower, Tiarella cordifolia

Yellow Mandarin, Disporum lanuginosum

Smooth Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum biflorum

Solomon's Plume, Smilacina racemosa

Bishop's Cap, Mitella diphylla

Spring Beauty, Claytonia caroliniana

Little Brown Jug, Hexastyllis arifolia

Yellow Star Grass, Hypoxis hirsuta 

I also saw several buttercups and cinquefoils that I did not identify.

What an amazing place!

Cove Hardwood Nature Trail

  This is quite possibly the most beautiful place on earth...

 

The sea of white above is thousands of Fringed Phacelia, Phacelia fimbriata, blossoms like these.  This flower is usually white, but every so often I find a purple bloom.

Sharp-lobed Hepatica, Hepatica nobilis var. acuta, is another early spring wildflower that is usually white.  It also comes in shades of lavender, ranging from magenta to blue.

Canada Violet, Viola canadensis.

Blue Cohosh, Caulophyllum thalictroides.  "Blue" refers to the bluish color of the leaves, not the modest yellow-brown flower.

  

 White Trillium, Trillium grandiflorum.  Have you ever seen this much Trillium?  Truly amazing!

Sweet White Trillium, Trillium simile, with a visitor.

White Trillium, Trillium grandiflorum.

Dwarf Ginseng, Panax trifolius.

Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense.  This is one of the coolest wildflowers I have seen in a long time! 

How funky is this flower?!  This is the first time I have ever seen Wild Ginger.  It is definitely one of my favorites!

I saw a total of 21 species when  visited the Cove Hardwood Nature Trail on Thursday, March 22nd.  Other species I saw that are not pictured include: 

Yellow Trillium, Trillium luteum

Common Blue Violet, Viola sororia

Early Yellow Violet, Viola rotundifolia

Foamflower, Tiarella cordifolia

Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides

Halberd-leaved Violet, Viola hastata

Star Chickweed, Stellaria pubera

Spring Beauty, Claytonia caroliniana

Trout Lily, Erythronium umbilicatum

Bishop's Cap, Mitella diphylla

Wood Anemone, Anemone quinquefolia

Squirrel Corn, Dicentra canadensis

Dutchman's Breeches, Dicentra cucullaria

Cut-leaved Toothwort, Cardamine concatenata

Yellow Mandarin, Disporum lanuginosum

Baskins Creek Trail

On Thursday, March 22nd, Kevin and I hiked Baskins Creek Trail before he went to work.  This wasn't a wildflower hotspot, but there was alot of Trailing Arbutus and a great waterfall!

Trailing Arbutus, Epigaea repens, also known as Mayflower.  This is said to be the earliest flowering species in the Smokies and is found in dry pine-oak forests.

Baskins Creek Falls is a great waterfall and we didn't see a single person on the trail! 

On Wednesday, March 21st, I took my dogs Wesley and Merlin for a walk in the Greenbrier section of the Park.  This is one of our favorite places to walk and a great place for spring wildflowers!  We walked from the intersection with the Ramsey Cascades road to the Porters Creek trailhead. 

I saw my first White Trillium, Trillium grandiflorum of the year by the Porters Creek trailhead.  I am still learning my trilliums, but I recognize this one by the wavy petal edges, and the light colored center.  Sweet-white Trillium, which is also in bloom right now, has a dark center.

Here are our two common Anemones, Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides (on the left) and Wood Anemone, Anemone cinquefolia (on the right).  I have seen lots of Rue Anemone this year, but this was my first Wood Anemone.

Foamflower, Tiarella cordifolia.

Smooth Rock Cress, Arabis laevigata.

Here an unfolding frond of a Lady Fern, Athyrium felix-femina.  Notice the tiny hairs on the reddish stem, or rachis in "fern-talk." 

Right in plain sight at the Greenbrier group picnic area I found this Yellow Morel, Morchella esculenta.  We collected some of these mushrooms last year and cooked them up in butter with bread crumbs.  I'm surprised no one has snagged this beauty yet!  The whole business of eating wild mushrooms is a little scary since there are so many look-alikes.  Morels, luckily, are fairly easy to identify.

Dwarf Ginseng, Panax trifolius.  This I found on the road heading out to Ramsey Cascades.  Don't confuse this the with American Ginseng, Panax quinquefolius, which is extremely valuable and commonly poached in the Park.  Needless to say, Dwarf Ginseng is much more common than American Ginseng.

Field Pansy, Viola bicolor.  Also found on Ramsey Cascades Road.  This was a new violet for me.

Other wildflowers I saw (but did not get a decent picture of) include: 

Common Blue Violet, Viola sororia

Blue Phlox, Phlox divaricata

Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis

Cut-leaved Toothwort, Cardamine concatenata

Star Chickweed, Stellaria pubera

Long-spur Violet, Viola rostrata

Yellow Trillium, Trillium luteum

Bishop's Cap, Mitella diphylla

Round-leaf Ragwort, Senecio obovatus

Trout Lily, Erythronium umbilicatum

This is a total of 17 species!

I heard a few birds too, notably Louisiana Waterthrush and Yellow-throated Warbler, two newly arrived summer residents!  I also heard Tufted Titmouse and Golden-crowned Kinglets which are both year-round residents.

Lots of butterflies are flying now.  I saw several Tiger Swallowtails, but they never landed, so I was not able to get a picture.  West Virginia Whites are everywhere!

I stopped at the Townsend "Y" today to check out the wildflowers at the beginning of Chestnut Tops Trail.  This West Virginia White, Pieris virginiensis, was visiting some star chickweed and was very cooperative as I took its picture.  These butterflies are apparently very common in the southern appalachians this time of year.

I went on a great hike yesterday (Wednesday, March 14, 2012) with my friend Dana.  We hiked from Elkmont up Jakes Creek Trail to Cucumber Gap Trail, to Little River Trail, to Huskey Gap Trail and out to Newfound Gap Road (Hwy 441) - just over 6 miles.  What a great wildflower hike!  Cucumber Gap and the second-half of Huskey Gap were the best wildflower spots!  So many flowers in bloom!

Sedges are some of the earliest blooming wildflowers.  They are wind-pollinated so it is beneficial for them to bloom early when wind is not blocked by leaves on the trees.  On the left is Seer-sucker Sedge, Carex plantaginea, named after the fabric its leaves resembles.  On the right is Fraser's Sedge, Cymophyllus fraserianus which has smooth, wide, dark-green leaves.

Alot of early spring wildflowers are pollinated by beetles.  Here is a beetle pollinating Star Chickweed, Stellaria pubera.

We saw one Trout Lily, Erythronium umbilicatum; the very first  I have seen in bloom this year.  The spotted/mottled leaves are thought to resemble brook trout, after which this flower is named.

Spring Beauty, Claytonia caroliniana.

Little River.

Squaw Root, Conopholis americana, contains no chlorophyll and so is not green.  Instead of making its own food like most plants, Sqaw Root is a parasite associated with Oak trees.  This is a popular early season food for bears.

Plantain-leaved Pussytoes, Antennaria plataginifolia, was found away from all the other wildflowers.  Instead of being in a cove hardwood forest, we found this early spring wildflower on a dry slope alongside Oaks, Galax, and Trailing Arbutus (which was not in bloom).  This flower looks a little different from the pictures in my field guide because it is just starting to bloom and is not yet fully open.

Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, is one of the earliest and most beautiful spring wildflowers!  These are both being pollinated by beetles.

These are the first Dutchman's Breetches, Dicentra cucullaria, I have seen in bloom this year!  They are so cute!  Don't they look like little pants on a clothesline?

  

Another first-of-the-year, Yellow Trillium, Trillium luteum.  These plants are beautiful even before they bloom.  I love the pattern on the leaves!

We came across a pair of Garter Snakes, Thamnophis sirtalis.  This one was sunning itself on a rock and didn't seem bothered by us at all.  The other was one of the fastest moving snakes I have other seen and made me a little nervous! 

Other wildflowers we saw on our hike included:

  Halberd-leaved Violet, Viola hastata

  Common Blue Violet, Viola sororia

  Early Yellow Violet, Viola rotundifolia

  Sharp-lobed Hepatica, Hepatica nobilis var. acuta

  Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides

  Bishop's Cap, Mitella diphylla

  Cut-leaved Toothwort, Cardamine concatenata

We heard lots of birds too:

  Ruffed Grouse

  Northern Cardinal

  Carolina Chickadee

  Black-capped Chickadee

  Tufted Titmouse

  Winter Wren

  Pileated Woodpecker

And...a couple first-of-the-years:

  Blue-headed Vireo

  Hermit Thrush