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

Dawson Forest WMA: Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa)

February 18th, 2012. Last December, on one of our trips to spot new wildflowers, we stumbled upon a patch of Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa) plants on Mill Road in the Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area (WMA). A little research at Name that Plant indicated that these plants would probably bloom in March so we planned to go back to see the blooms this Spring. Given that we’ve had a warm winter, it seems prudent to go a little earlier. We finally got around to driving up to Dawson Forest on the 18th. It was late afternoon at about 5 p.m. when we found them.

There it was. A single white flower among the fallen oak leaves on the embankment by the road. I’d been looking for the characteristic leaves but they’d withered since last December.

A closer view of the flower. It’s a little past its best but unmistakable. The white structures are sepals, not petals I looked around and found more....

A blooms that was starting to open. At first I thought it had finished blooming but the stamen are fresh.

This photo shows the hairy stems.

Another bloom beginning to open. This is younger than the bloom above. It was quite blue. The sepals of the young blooms are blue and fade to white as they age.

Each bloom has multiple ovaries. It would be interesting to see if these develop seeds.

I looked around for more plants. I’d been looking for the characteristic leaves that were quite prominent in December.

I spotted one.

The leaves have withered since last December.

There are two varieties of Hepatica nobilis – Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa (Roundlobed Hepatica) and Hepatica nobilis var. acuta (Sharplobe hepatica). Both varieties are found throughout the eastern United States and Canada. The Roundlobed Hepatica appears to be found further south in Georgia than the Sharplobe Hepatica, the latter being found only in far northern counties. Both varieties bloom in March.
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Distribution:
United States Department of Agriculture Plants Database:
- Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa (Roundlobe Hepatica)
- Hepatica nobilis var. acuta (Sharplobe Hepatica)

University of North Carolina Herbarium:
- Anemone americana
- Anemone acutiloba

Identification Resources
Natural and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia:
- Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa (Round-lobed Hepatica, Round-lobed Liverleaf)
- Hepatica nobilis var. acuta (Sharp-lobed Hepatica, Sharp-lobed Liverleaf)

Related posts:
- Dawson Forest WMA: Road to the Roundlobed Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa)
- Dawson Forest Wildlife Management Area, Atlanta Tract: Mill Road and Railroad Road