March 14th,
2016. I went on a fungus hunt with a couple of mycophiles yesterday, hoping
that we’d find some mushrooms after the recent rain.
We walked along the
equestrian trail to the creek and began to work our way back across county.
We explored one of
the side drainages, and spent some time accessing areas to the side of one of
the trails – circled in blue - that I had walked a couple of weeks ago. This
area is a deciduous forest that hadn’t leafed out yet. I hadn’t expected to see
many wildflowers but I was to be surprised.
Buckeyes (Aesculus
sp.) were leafing and budding out throughout the area. I’m betting most of
these are Painted Buckeyes (Aesculus sylvatica);
this is a common species in this area. But time will tell…
As I climbed from
the creek bottom to the trail running along a ridge, I almost stepped on this
Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
plant, looking like a little, lime-green torpedo, just pushing its way out of
the ground. Just two plants in this location, in a small ‘gully’ where water
ran down the hillside when it rained.
Beside the trail, I
found a lone Wlld Geranium (Geranium
maculatum) blooming. Judging by the number of geranium leaves in this area,
this may be a mini-meadow of geranium blooms before too long.
On the other side
of the trail, down the hill in another small drainage gully, another pair of
Mayapple plants making their appearance.
When I first walked
this trail, I’d seen a single Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa)
blooming at the base of a tree. This particular plant had finished blooming,
but I found…
several plants in
full bloom, as well as…
one that had new
buds.
Another surprise!
One of several Bloodroot (Sanguinaria
canadensis) plants in bloom along this section of trail.
The final
wildflower blooming along this section of the trail was Green-and-gold (Chrysogonum virginianum).
We made our way
from the trail back down to the main stream. As I worked my way along the steep
hill above the creek, I was rewarded with finding another…
Bloodroot plant in
bloom. This one looked like a ‘double.’
And finally, back
to the main trail that led up the hill and back to the parking lot.
I was surprised by
the variety of early wildflowers in this area that, a couple of weeks previously,
was a forest floor covered with leaf litter with little sign of herbaceous
plant life.
References:
Native and
Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Aesculus
sylvatica
Native and
Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Podophyllum
peltatum
Native and
Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Geranium
maculatum
Native and Naturalized
Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Hepatica
nobilis var. obtusa
Native and
Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Sanguinaria
canadensis
Native and
Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Chrysogonum
virginianum
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