March 30th, 2013. Our
first ‘major’ outing of the year was to Dockery Lake in the Chestatee Wildlife
Management Area in the Chattahoochee National Forest. We had found interesting
wildflowers along the road down last Fall and will revisit it during the year.
We didn’t find many wildflowers blooming but it was interesting to spot
evidence of wildflowers from last year and promises of wildflowers for this
year.
The only wildflower we saw was the Common Periwinkle (Vinca
minor). This is an non-native, invasive wildflower that we’ve seen in many
areas in north Georgia and which spreads over large areas. It may start to
bloom in January if the Winter is mild. Usually they have blue-purple flowers.
This was a small patch near the day parking lot and I almost missed it because
the flowers were…
white and blended into their background of brown leaves.
A close-up view.
We drove to where we had found wildflowers last year. We could
see…
Leaves of the Cranefly Orchid (Tipularia discolor) on the
embankment, with
Pipsissewa (Chimaphila maculata) in several places. There were
several plants, some of which had seed pods.
We spotted seed pods of Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera
pubescens) and, upon close inspection of the area…
Quite a number of plants whose leaves were emerging.
The strangest thing we found was a cluster of grayish lime-green
structures on the embankment. Upon close examination, they look like the
skeletal mycelial remnants of stinkhorn fungi
The finest example showing the stalk and head, and
another specimen showing a head on a shorter stalk.
A view from the side that shows the skeletal structure of the
stalk. I would have liked to see these
in their prime.
From this cove, we drove back up the road to where we had found
the Pinesap (Monotropa hypopithys) last year.
We found a small cluster of flower stalks still present. These
blend well into their background; it’s unlikely we would have seen these if we
hadn’t known they were there.
A closer view. Photos of the blooms as we saw them last Fall.
We spoke to rangers who passed by and they told us that the
trilliums were blooming at Boggs Creek so we headed over there to take a look…
Click
on an image to view a larger image
Identification Resources:
Southeastern Flora
Natural
and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia:
Distribution:
United
States Department of Agriculture Plants Database:
- Goodyera pubescens (Downy Rattlesnake Plantain)
- Pinesap (Monotropa hypopithys)
2 comments:
You should go to Arabia Mountain and see all that is in bloom there just now. It's lovely!
I know I should. I'd planned to go a few weeks ago but 'life' got in the way.
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