1 - Mid May, 2021:
My first visit of the year, primarily to monitor Georgia's only occurrence of Platanthera herbiola.
These orchids have had a rough time in recent years, suffering from hog rooting, being eaten, and being covered by flood debris. As I approached, I noticed that an old tree had fallen and shattered over the site. Arriving at the plants, I saw that the upper part of the tree had made almost a direct hit. After clearing away some of the limbs covering the orchids, I observed that the main trunk had missed the clump by only 6 inches, and shattered portions of the tree were suspended just an inch or so above the plants by other chunks of the tree. The flowers are usually at full bloom now, but appear to be a week or two late this year. That may have saved them, because if they had been their usual height, the stalks would have surely been snapped off.
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I took this photo after removing the tree sections that were on top of the orchids, which can be seen in the center of the image. The tree sections still seen in this photo are as found. The two thicker pieces at lower right-center are the main trunk, which forks into those two sections just out of the frame on the bottom.
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Tubercled Rein Orchid (Platanthera herbiola)
with three emerging racemes visible.
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I noticed a number of American Columbo (Frasera caroliniensis) in bloom. It's been a banner year for Columbo flowers in NE Georgia; I have seen more plants in bloom than ever before. This species certainly produces one of the more unusual blooms - flower stalks up to 8 feet tall, the petals greenish white with purple specks (the bases often tinted pale yellow or pale pink). Toward the middle of each corolla lobe, there is a conspicuous nectar pad that is heavily fringed. While the species is uncommon, it often occurs in large colonies. The plant persists as a large rosette of basal leaves for 5-20 years before finally bolting as a large flowering plant for a single season, then dying.
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American Columbo (Frasera caroliniensis)
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American Columbo - single flower in the typical 4 petal configuration.
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Columbo - single flower in the less common 5 petal configuration.
I saw lots of plants with 5-petaled flowers today.
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2 - Late May, 2021:
I stopped by on my way home from a multi-site botanical exploration, hoping that the Tubercled Orchid (Platanthera herbiola) might be blooming. Unfortunately, it was still too early... So I made my way to a different area to look for a plant we had first spotted two years ago.
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Fairy Wand, aka Devil's Bit (Chamaelirium luteum)
A friend and I saw this plant two years ago, but it had already gone to seed.
Last year there was no sign of it. This year it's blooming nicely.
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Flower raceme of the Chamaelirium luteum.
This species is dioecious, and this is a female plant.
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3 - Early June, 2021:
So, I've been monitoring the Tubercled Rein Orchid (Platanthera herbiola) here, which had the dead tree fall on top of it. The plants were now several weeks beyond their normal bloom time. Visiting today, only one of the three racemes had bloomed, and it was considerably stunted compared to last year. The other two racemes remained in bud and hadn't changed much since I'd last looked; I don't know if they will continue to develop or abort. The tree laying on top of the clump for some period definitely had an adverse effect on these flowers.
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Tubercled Rein Orchid (Platanthera herbiola)
It didn't look nearly as nice as last year's flowers; the fallen tree laying
on it for some unknown length of time definitely affected the blooms.
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Platanthera herbiola - budded raceme
At this point, I don't know if this stalk (or another that looks
just like it) will continue to develop and bloom this year.
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Leatherflower (Clematis viorna)
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Leatherflower (Clematis viorna)
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A small spider (just above center of image) gingerly makes its way
over the carnivorous Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifilia).
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Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)
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Colicroot (Aletris farinosa)
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Early Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dioicum)
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4 - June 21, 2021:
Summer Solstice
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Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides)
Rare in north Georgia. I found this species in flower here in 2018, but had not seen it since then.
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Dusky-winged Hover Fly (Ocyptamus fuscipennis) approaching Rose Pogonia flower.
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Rose Pogonia
The flowers were a little past their prime...
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Grass Pink Orchid (Calopogon tuberosus)
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Grass Pink Orchid
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Polypore fungi at the base of a large pine tree
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