Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: Late Winter Surprises (Part 2)

March 10th, 2012. On our recent trip to the Piedmont NWR a couple of weeks ago, we saw Dimpled Troutlilies just beginning to bloom. We figured that they’d be full bloom now so we drove back down to photograph them.

We took a slightly different route from our last trip. We took the route from GA-83 south on Starr Road through the Oconee National Forest into the NWR. We drove through Tribble Fields to the bridge over Little Falling Creek and then north to Pond 2A. We returned the way we’d come and then took the first road on the right down to the Round Tree – Juliette Rd, drove east and then back into the NWR on the first road on the left. From there we drove north to the intersection with Sugar Hill Road, turned west and forded Stalking Head Creek. We then drove north and took the first road on the right to ford Stalking Head Creek again, east past a small pond and southeast to meet Sugar Hill Road again and then east to GA-11.


The second section of our drive took us down to the Round Tree – Juliette Rd and back up to another Allison Creek crossing where we’d seen the Dimpled Troutlilies blooming a couple of weeks ago.

On the road down to the highway, W spotted some clusters of pink flowers in the grass.

They didn’t look like much from a distance, but…

The leaves

The flower head, up close

An individual floret

Rose Mock Vervain (Glandularia pulchella).

As we drove up to the Allison Creek ford, I spotted some white flowers. On my way over to take a closer look, I spotted this yellow flower…

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Bristly Buttercup (Ranunculus hispida). I almost missed these. Just a few in the grass here and there.

Then on to the white flowers…

At the base of a tree

A slightly closer view

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Close-ups

Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides). The first one was at the base of a tree. Then I found them every 15 feet or so. Most plants were no more than 6 to 7 inches high. They were growing in the full sun. This was quite a contrast to last year when I saw some plants in the woods on the other side of the creek; these had grown 4 feet tall in search of the light and were just setting blooms in late April.

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Lichen. I found this lichen on the south side of Allison Creek. I haven’t seen it anywhere else. A lucky find.

And then at the base of a tree nearby…

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A trillium. We’d seen one plant on the other side of the creek last year and were in search for more. We’re hoping they’ll bloom this year and we can identify them.

And then over to the north side of Allison Creek

To be continued… 

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Identification resources: 



Southeastern Flora:
- Rose verbena (Glandularia canadensis)
- Bristly buttercup (Ranunculus hispidus)
- Rue anemone. Windflower (Thalictrum thalictroides)

Missouri Plants
- Ranunculus hispidus

Name That Plant. Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia:
- Glandularia canadensis (Rose Vervain, Rose Verbena, Creeping Vervain)
- Ranunculus hispidus (Hispid Buttercup, Hairy Buttercup)
- Thalictrum thalictroides (Rue Anemone, Windflower)


Distribution:
University of North Carolina Herbarium:
- Glandularia canadensis
- Ranunculus hispidus
- Anemonella thalictroides

USDA Plants Database:
- Glandularia canadensis (Rose Mock Vervain)
- Ranunculus hispidus (Bristly Buttercup)
- Thalictrum thalictroides (Rue Anemone)

Related Posts
- Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: Late Winter Surprises (Part 1)
- Piedmont NWR: The First Dimpled Troutlily (Erythronium umbilicatum) Of Spring
- Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: October Wildflowers (Part 1)

- Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: October Wildflowers (Part 2)

- Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge: October Wildflowers (Part 3)

- 2010: Year Of The Wildflower – Wildflower Index