Monday, September 21, 2015

Road Trip: Oglethorpe –Wilkes Counties, July 28th, 2015 (Part 1)


July 28th. Most of our trips over to Wilkes County, Georgia, have coincided with frog surveillance trips; these trips were finished for the year but we decided to make a trip just to look at wildflowers. 


The first part of the trip was from GA-77 in Oglethorpe County to GA-17 in Wilkes County on the Saxon Mattox (Oglethorpe County) – CR113 (Wilkes County) road. This is an unpaved road that may be slippery after rain. Since it had been dry for a while, we thought it would be interesting to take this route, rather than the main highway, to Wilkes County. 

In the past, we’ve found a variety of wildflowers along this road including many Carolina Milkvines (Matelea carolinensis) vines. Unfortunately, contractors had been clearing under the power lines along this road so many of the wildflowers we expected to see, including the Carolina Milkvines, were not blooming. We did, however, see a number of wildflowers or fruits of interest.


The first sighting was a Partidge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) plant growing at the edge of the road. It was one of the few of these plants we saw. Usually the roadside is lined with these plants.


We did find matelea vines; the tell-tale pairs of large, heart-shaped leaves gave them away. But they were…


the Angularfruit MIlkvine (Matelea gonocarpos). The amazing finding was a cluster of three large seedpods from one cluster of flowers. I’m used to seeing one pod on a vine but to find three was outstanding. 

As I was making my way along the embankment to check another vine (that didn’t have any pods), I had to step over a vine and there, at knee height, was a…


small, cute pod. I wonder if it will develop to maturity; it was way behind the others in development. 

Across the road, I spotted a leaf that I recognized immediately. A…


Yellow Passionflower (Passiflora lutea). Unfortunately, the vine wasn’t blooming, but it was healthy. It will be interesting to check this vine out earlier in the season. These are beautiful little flowers and worthwhile searching out. 


Below it was a Dodder (Cuscuta sp.) plant in bloom. 

A little further along the road, I spotted a few...


Allegheny Monkeyflower (Mimulus ringens) flowers. The plants were growing in a roadside ditch and were only a couple of feet high – small compared with the six-foot high plants near our creek.


A Spurred Butterflypea (Centrosema virginianum) vine had climbed up a tree beside the road and was blooming profusely. Many of the flowers were above head height.


Skippers were enjoying feeding on the flowers. 

I was delighted to find an…


Eastern Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) blooming at the side of the road. 

One of the most exciting sightings along this road was a…


Smallflower Pawpaw (Asimina parviflora) growing on the roadside embankment. I spotted it and asked W to back up to take a closer look. When we stopped, I could see the…


fruit before I got out of the car.


This plant had quite a number of fruit; five alone on one branch. They weren’t ripe and I expect the local wildlife will get to the fruit first when they do ripen.


I’ve seen Rosepink (Sabatia angularis) in several locations but this was the first time I had seen them…


developing seed capsules.


Toward the end of this section of road, we passed a field with some sheep. At first, it looked they had been shorn but then I noticed that…


some of them still had wool attached. These sheep were ‘self-shearing’ sheep that were shedding their wool naturally. 

The final sighting on this section of road was…


Perennial Wildbean (Strophostyles umbellata) that were blooming in the hedgerows by the road. 

In spite of the clearing of the roadside, we had some nice spottings on this road. From here, we continued onto our ‘regular’ route in Wilkes County. 
(To be continued…)

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