The last couple of days I have had opportunities to revisit areas with very nice West Virginia Orchids.
On a woodland road run near my home, I paused to crawl under some Rhododendron against a creek and find Appalachian Twayblade. I found this here a couple years ago but it is still not reported to be found in this county (Raleigh).
Listera smallii on USDA Web Site.
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| Appalachian Twayblade |
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| Appalachian Twayblade |
After a conference in Morgantown, I drove over to the Canaan Valley area to spend a night and hike in the West Virginia Highlands. It was early for some of the flowers I was searching for but a lot of wildflowers were early this year and I was not disappointed on this trip.
First it was to a bog area where one of the two West Virginia populations of Showy Lady Slippers are located. They were in great shape and I also saw a couple of globally rare plant wild flowers, Appalachian Jacob's ladder and Glade Spurge. Purple Fringed Orchid and Woodland Sorrel .
After one storm and while thunder rumbled, I hiked into the bog with ankle deep water and took the following pictures
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| Showy Lady Slipper |
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Purple Fringed Orchid
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Glade Spurge
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| Spruce Knob (One-sided red spruce deformed by constant exposure to strong westerly winds cling to the high rocky ridges) |
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My next stop was at Spruce Knob. At 4863 feet in elevation, this is the highest point in West Virginia. This was my first visit and I hoped to find some leftover Spring Ephemeral. As I drove up the access road the temperature dropped 10 degrees and the sun was replaced by fog and wind.
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| Appalachian Jacob's Ladder |
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#361-Wild Bleeding Heart Spruce Knob
, another new West Virginia wildflower for my attempt to photograph
and record every wildflower that I can in West Virginia.
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| Columbine |
