A Bluebell Kind of Day

#350 - Virginia Bluebells

My dad and I try to get out occasionally to hike the wonderful West Virginia Hills. Often we are exploring historical areas. Today it was on the New River at an abandoned Logging town and lumber mill. I was very surprised but very happy to find many wildflowers in bloom. The elevation there was about 1900 feet less than my home 33 miles away which is 3050 feet. So, on the drive in I spotted a glimpse of blue so I backed up and found my very first Virginia Bluebells in West Virginia.
A new Wildflower for my quest to photograph as many wildflower in West Virginia as possible.

I've know about them and hunted them but could never find them. I did finally see a waterlogged one in Tennessee. They are not rare, but elusive for me. But today, I found a hillside covered with them. And a variety of shades of blue through pink.

There were also many other ephemerals in bloom. There were Bloodroot, Hepatica, Cutleaf Tootwort, Spring Beauty and even Trillium on a sunny hillside.  I have never seen most of these in March.
The hike into the old logging camp was interesting and we saw many cutstone foundations and remains of the mill. The old bandsaw blade was sprung down a hillside and the entire site almost entirely reclaimed by the forest .

Band Saw blade from the 1920's era sawmill

Virginia Spring Beauty

Hepatica, Blue Variety 

Hepatica, Pink Variety 

Trillium

Bloodroot

	Oh! roses and lilies are fair to see;
	But the wild bluebell is the flower for me.                                                         Louisa A. Meredith.

Snow Trillium in West Virginia 2017

I had an opportunity this week to visit a site for Snow Trillium in West Virginia. I had been here four years ago and was fortunate to find five or six plants and a couple of blooms. When I arrived this week, I found hundreds, maybe thousands of Snow Trillium in bloom. 

        They need one of two specific set of requirements in order to grow. Here it was on limestone crevices, limestone cliffs and very steep loess deposits where the soils are sparsely vegetated, if at all with no accumulating organic matter such as leaf mold and litter.(Complete Description)

They bloom from Early to Mid-March and often come up through snow. There was plent of snow around the area but not at the actual site, they had recently been covered by snow and were many that had been damaged. 

         They are rare in most areas and I was awestruck to find the numbers I dd this year. Below are many photos and some descriptionws. 

Snow Trillium (notice Stonecrop)

Typical location, limestone with minimal leaf litter

Notice size in relation to the acorn

Typical damage on this day due to recent heavy snow

Notice the acorn cap

Click for Video

Stone Crop

Snow from hike to site

At least ten plants in this picture 

Close up of reproductive parts