End of June Hike

Drove a couple miles from the house and spent a couple of hours hiking old logging roads. Here are several wildflowers and mushrooms. Great Laurel is West Virginia's state flower

#158- Rhododendron or Great Laurel 

Great Laurel 

#159- Whorled Loosestrife 

Notice the Hoverfly in the middle of this picture 

#160- Lyre-leaved Rock Cress

This is a beautiful flower that I found at the site of an old home. When I find old home sites, I generally hunt for bottles and the bottles I found here date the house to a least the 60's. This is Spotted Henbit and it had naturalized all over the site. Probally not widespread enough to count for my Big Year. 

#161- Red Twig Dogwood 

#162- Winterberry Holly 

#163- Sweet Pea (non-native)

And then four mushrooms

Wildflowers on the iPad Camera

I was at Grandview Park last week and found some time to hike back into the area where I have found many Spring ephemerals. I had no camera but did have a 3rd generation iPad and decided to give it a try. The woods were so dense, I walked around for close to an hour before I spotted Striped Wintergreen and a couple of mushrooms. An ephemeral is about the only plant that stands a chance in a place like that.
        I was somewhat impressed with the iPad photo, so I decided to use it for all of the photos in this post. Most were from arounf my home.

#152- Striped Wintergreen

#153- Poke Milkweed

Poke Milkweed

#154- Alumroot

Close Up of Alumroot Flower

 The Wild Hydrangea below grows in front of my house on the edge of the road. I have trimmed around it for years and try to protect it but the Department of Highways comes through once a year to with a brush trimmer and one year a right of way crew sprayed herbicide on everything along the road but spared this at my request. Even so, it was the only thing that died back. But, its a survivor.

#155- Wild Hydrangea

Chinquapin is a native plant that produces small Chestnut like nuts .The small black wasp had gathered a lot of pollen on its rear legs and was working these blooms thoroughly. 

#156- Chinkapin or Allegheny Chinquapin

 I look at this Orange Daylilly as a marker plant. Anytime I am in the woods and see this, I know a home site or cemetery is close by. This is an old fashioned pass along plant that was introduced from Asia. 

#157- Orange Daylilly

Summer Heats Up

#140- Catalpa

The summer wild flowers are coming in quick now. All of the ones below are those I am finding just in day to day travels and rambling. The first is an interesting and pretty native. It is uncertain where  this trees native range originally was, and it has spread almost all over the country. It is the Catalpa Tree and is the only food source for the caterpillar of the Catalpa Sphinx Moth, which is commonly used in the south as catfish bait.  

Catalpa

Indian Pipe has often been described as a parasitic plant, but its relationship with plants and other fugi is much more complicated than originally thought. Read more here.  They are pollinated by insects, and you can see the yellow, insect attracting parts in the second picture. 

#141- Indian Pipe

The history of the next flower is interesting and close to home. Galax has a great flower, but it is the leaves that caught the attention of florists in the 1900's. It is gathered and used in floral arrangements because of its long lasting green leaves. The center of this industry for many years was Galax, Virginia. Gathering of this plant is restricted or prohibited in many areas but many people still supplement their incomes in the Appalachians.    

#142- Galax

Galax


Three Shrubs 

Black Elderberry is often used for locally to make jelly.

#143- Black Elderberry

Arrow Wood has very straight stems and branches and was reportedly used by Native American Indians to make arrows. 

#144- Arrow Wood 

Staghorn Sumac has a vivid red fruit which is often used to make a lemonade substitute and to garnish fish in recipes. It grows all over the farm here and is hard to eliminate. During deep snows, I go out and break branches to get the fruit down for the deer to eat, which they do with a relish despite is tartness. 

#145- Staghorn Sumac 

#146- American white waterlily

 And a few non-natives

#147- Deptford Pink

                    #148 - purple flowering raspberry 

#149- Cow Vetch 

#150- Least Hop Clover 

#151- Bittersweet Nightshade

Spring Fades, Summer Advances

The next two shrubs, to me, indicate the last of the Spring flowers. After those, I have several of the early summer flowers. We have just had our first consecutive days with 80+ degree weather, then last night back into the 40's and only 70 today. But, Summer is here and a new flush of wildflowers.

        I first found this flower while I was trimming brush and briers from around a nice little Flame Azalea growing along the unkempt border between my yard and the road. I was on the ground trimming back plants from under it and noticed these small flowers that looked like cranberries that I see in Cranberry Glades. After some research, I found that it is Southern Mountain Cranberry, and is related to the bog type Cranberries. 

#133-Southern Mountain Cranberry

Southern Mountain Cranberry

#134- Mountain Laurel 

#135- Blue Eyed Grass 
Blue Eyed Grass is an Iris relative and the seed capsules that you can see in this picture resemble those of Iris. This flower is so abundant in the field behind my home that I can see a blue tinge in patches from over a hundred yards away. 

#136- Yarrow

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#137- Crown Vetch (non-native)

#138- Spiderwort

#139- Racemed Milkwort 
Racemed Milkwort is a new wildflower for me. I was at a local water reservoir with my three year old grandson fishing. I saw the small purple flowers near the sandy shore and snapped a few quick pictures to identify later. I hope to get back in a couple of days to see the flowers bloomed out a little more, they should have a fringe similar toFringed Polygala, a relative. This plant produces its seed from small underground flowers that are cleistogamous, or non-opening and self fertile.

I am fortunate to have many Flame Azalea on my property, and it blooms at different times. The last one blooms at least two-three weeks after the first. 

Showy Lady's Slippers and Others

 Visited a site for the West Virginia Rare Showy Lady's Slipper on a rainy day. See the story and more Cyp pictures here . Below are additional photos and other wildflowers seen on that day

A Triple- This picture shows the various stages of bloom, all on one plant, that I saw throughout the site. 

I saw several that seemed to begin opening upside down and then rotate upright as it progressed

This wildflower was scattered throughout the site, Devils Bit is in the Lily family and is endangered or rare in several Eastern states.

#125- Devil's Bit or Fairy Wand 

I was stumbling through the forest headed for the truck in somewhat of a hurry with thunder rolling across the mountains when I caught a glimpse of white at the edge of a small stream. I took a couple of hurried photos and was zooming to make sure I had one in focus when I noticed the lace like petals of this plant. Another first for me; Two Leaf Mitrewort. 

#126- Mitrewort

 Mitrewort

#127- White Bergamot

#128- Black Snakeroot

Black Snakeroot

#129- Goats Beard

#130- Partridge Berry 

And finally; a couple of introduced plants from the roadsides going to and from the site. One, Blueweed, is reported to have been introduced to America in the 1600's; that's before my family came over.

#131- Blueweed 

#132- Moth Mullein