September 22nd, 2012. I
photographed Parnassia asarifolia (Kidneyleaf Grass of Parnassus) by the side
of North Germany Mountain Road which runs through the Black Mountain State Park
in Rabun County, Georgia in 2011 and again in 2012. At this site the plants
grow in complete shade.
On our way home from Rabun County,
we explored the Swallow Creek Wildlife Management Area in Towns County;
download a map of the WMA here. From Cynth Creek Road, we drove south and
entered the WMA again on Mill Creek Road and drove to the end of the road which
is a trail head just a short distance from the Tennessee Valley Divide and the Appalachian Trail.
At first the road ran along the
valley just above the creek and then climbed along the side of the ridge. W
spotted another patch of parnassias growing in a wet area by the side of the
road as we climbed out of the valley. Which species? There are two species – P.
asarifolia and P. grandifolia (Largeleaf Grass of Parnassus) – and we’ve been
on the lookout for P. grandifolia. These plants proved to be P. asarifolia and,
although we were a little disappointed that it wasn’t P. gradifolia, we were
delighted to find another patch of P. asarifolia. It was somewhat challenging
to photograph them in full sun, but not much choice.
The plants were growing in water
flowing from a spring a little farther up the hill.
A little closer
Closer still, and…
up close
Close-ups of the flowers, and…
a flower that’s going to seed.
The circle of small appendages
(staminodia) that have gold tips (false anthers) – nectaries - designed to
attract pollinators to the flowers. Below are two photographs actually showing…
an ant, and a...
a fly feeding at these nectaries.
We drove on up the hill and found
still more plants growing in the flow from the spring water coming from the
rocks above. We found these plant...
We’ll have to come back to this
site in the morning to photograph in the morning before the sun shines directly
on the flowers.
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:
Related
posts:
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