Autumn Coralroot

I drove to  Blacksburg, Virginia to run in the 6th annual Hokie Half Marathon last weekend.
On the way I stopped at a site where I have seen Bentleys Coralroot and Spotted Coralroot in the past. I was just out for a hike but also was looking for a fall Coralroot called Autumn Coralroot. I thought there was a chance it would be here due to the other coralroots and several other Orchids. I didn't have to look long until I had my first sighting of it, another new West Virginia wildflower for my attempt to photograph and record every wildflower that I can in West Virginia.

#363 - Autumn Coralroot

Early Fall 2017

Just a few wildflowers and other stuff from some recent walks around the farm or close by.
One new wildflower for my attempt to photograph and record every wildflower that I can in West Virginia. Mistflower, a member of the Aster family.
Wildflower season is quickly coming to a close.

# 359 - Mistflower Conoclinium coelestinum

                    Collinsonia canadensis    

           Citronella horsebalm, Richweed, Stoneroot

Yellow Jewelweed

Native Brook Trout "Brookie"
Catch and Release

Grandson enjoying the Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory 
Looking for raptors after a long uphill hike

Sneezeweed

Nodding Ladies Tresses

Pawpaw in Fall colors

 “GATHERING LEAVES
Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.
I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.
But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.
I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?
Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.
Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?” 
― Robert Frost

Crane Flys

Crane Fly Orchid

On a trip to Charleston, WV to watch a grandkid play baseball, I had the opportunity to hike through Little Creek Park. I have found some new flowers there in the past and enjoy this opportunity to hit the trails in a very urban area. I quickly spotted Crane Fly Orchids in bloom. After some pictures I continued and saw these unusual orchids all along the trail I was on for a mile or more. I spotted a box Turtle, Starry Campion, strange mushrooms and others. 

Crane Fly Orchid

Crane Fly Orchids

 

Eastern Box Turtle- Although mostly terrestrial,
this turtle is in the pond turtle family

Starry Campion

More Summer Orchids

353 - Club Spur Orchid

 A week ago, I was at a site for Bentleys Coralroot, One of the rarest Orchids in America. See that post here.
While there, I found what I suspected was Club Spur Orchid,  Platanthera clavellata, also know as Small Green Wood Orchid and  Small Woodland Orchid. Even though the site is 70 or so miles from home, I knew I had to be there to see it in bloom. So, today was the day. The first two I saw were still not in bloom and it required a considerable hike to find some opened up. But the bonus was I found Spotted Coral Root, another new wildflower for this blog. 
(See Below)  
Two new Orchids in one day for this blog

Club Spur Orchid

Club Spur Orchid

Club Spur Orchid

 I had seen Spotted Coral Root at this site several years ago but could not find them again for this blog, where I am trying to find and photograph as many of West Virginia's wildflowers as possible.

354 - Spotted Coralroot

Rattlesnake Orchid

This site is one of the most prolific orchid sites that I know of. Many Rattlesnake Orchids were in bloom. I saw old Pink Lady Slippers, Showy Orchis and there has to be others. I found quite a few Yellow Fringed Orchids just beginning to bloom. 

Yellow Fringed Orchid 

just beginning to bloom.

Leaf-Cup  

355 - Leaf Cup-Polymnia canadensis 
On New River 

Another new flower found that day is Winged Monkeyflower - Mimulus alatus 
It is similar in appearance to Mimulus ringens (Allegheny Monkeyflower) and it occurs in the same habitats. Winged Monkeyflower differs in this manner 1) Its flowers are often pink rather than blue-violet, 2) Its leaves have narrowly winged petioles about ½" long or more, while Mimulus ringens has sessile leaves, and 3) The pedicels of its flowers vary in length from nearly zero to ½" in length, while Mimulus ringens has pedicels that are greater than ½" in length.

356 - Winged Monkeyflower

Winged Monkeyflower

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Bee Balm or Bergomont

Dolls Eyes fruit Actaea pachypoda

Ragged Fringed Orchid 

July Orchids

Bentley's Coralroot

My dad and I spent some time hiking in a national forest in Southern West Virginia near the Virginia border looking for Bentley's Coralroot. In the past, I had seen this along with Spotted Coralroot but keep missing the Spotted Coralroot, so this year I went a little later than usual. We could only find two of the Bentley's Coralroot after much searching. I'm not sure if it was bloomed and gone or was just a bad year. No Spotted Coralroot found.                                This site has many different Orchids. I saw bloomed out Pink Lady Slipper and Showy Orchis. There are many Rattlesnake Orchids that are almost in full bloom. But most interesting was an orchid that is ready to bloom but I am not sure what it is. Possibly Club Spur? So, I will need to return in a week or so. This would be a new wildflower and orchid for me in WV. Enjoy the Orchids and other wildflowers below

  

Bentley's Coralroot

Bentley's Coralroot

Rattlesnake Orchid

Possible Club Spur??

Possible Club Spur??

Southern Yellow Loosestrife

Loosestrife

Rosebay Rhododendron

Rosebay Rhododendron

White Showy Orchis, Ephemerals and Tree/Shrub Blooms

White Showy Orchis (note last years seed pod)

I spent a beautiful morning roaming the woods near my home under the guise of turkey hunting. I had seen these Showy Orchis last year before they bloomed and was pleased to see them blooming this year. I also found my first all white one. Needless to say my shotgun was forgotten somewhere on a log for a good portion of the morning. This is why I am almost no threat to the turkey population. Many other ephemerals were seen and photographed. I will also post several trees and shrubs I saw blooming this week within the New River Gorge National River.

White Showy Orchis

Showy Orchis

Mitrewort

Res-Spotted Newt or Red Eft

Purple Trillium

Foam Flower

Perfoliate Bellflower

Jack-In-The-Pulpit

This is the 'holler' where I found these wildflowers this morning.
To the left is another stream with this raised area between them. 

Virginia pennywort

Showy Orchis

Purple Trillium

Woodland Anemone 

Carolina Silver Bell

Carolina Silver Bell

Dogwood


Wild Blueberry

Dogwood

  

Hawthorn