Past Events, Plants

Big Creek Wildflower Walk

Wildflower photos  by Allen Miller

 

Our first field trip of the year drew seventeen BRNN members to view wildflowers on a mild, damp morning at Big Creek on the eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We split into two groups, one taking the wide Big Creek trail that runs straight along the north side of the valley, the other crossing the creek to take the Baxter Creek trail that runs south towards Mt. Sterling.  We found a total of 55 flowering plants, shrubs and trees without stepping off the trails.  The Yellow Trillium was everywhere, with Purple Phacelia, Long-spurred  Violet, and Foam Flower making fine shows.  Members new to the area were delighted to discover Showy Orchis, Wild Ginger, and Yellow Mandarin, and more experienced wildflower enthusiasts got a chance to distinguish Golden Alexanders from Smooth Meadow Parsnip.  Scott Dean would have been proud of us!    

White Wake Robin (Trillium erectum) with a bonus spider!. Photo by Jim Polling

 

Wildflower Species at Big Creek – April 19, 2017                                                  

Photo by Barbara Harrison


Submitted by BRNN Membership Director Charlotte Caplan
Yellow Trillium Trillium luteum
White Wake Robin Trillium erectum
Long-spurred violet Viola rostrata
Common BlueViolet Viola sororia
Sweet White Violet Viola blanda
Canada Violet Viola canadensis
Baneberry (Dolls Eye) Actea pachypoda
Wild Stonecrop Sedum ternatum
Foam Flower Tiarella cordifolia
Miterwort, Bishops Cap Mitella diphylla
Common Alumroot Heuchera americana
Wild Strawberry Fragaria virginiana
Common Cinquefoil Potentilla simplex
Multiflora Rose Rosa multiflora *                                                             
Blackberry Rubus sp.
Golden Ragwort Senecio aureus
Rattlesnake Weed Hieracium venosum
Common Fleabane Erigeron philadelphicus
Robin’s Plantain Erigeron pulchellus
Dandelion Taraxacum officinale *
Pussytoes Antennaria plantaginifolia
Dog Hobble Leucothoe fontanesiana
Common Chickweed Stellaria media *
Giant (Star) Chickweed Stellaria pubera
Purple Phacelia Phacelia bipinnitafida
Smooth Meadow Parsnip Thaspium trifoliatum
Golden Alexanders Zizia aurea
Solomon’s Seal Polygonatum biflorum
Solomon’s Plume Smilacina racemosa
Yellow Mandarin Disporum lanuginosum
Wood Sorrel Oxalis stricta
Wild Geranium Geranium maculatum
Fire Pink Silene virginica
White Clover Trifolum repens *
Sweet Shrub Calycanthus floridus
Sweet Cicely Osmorhiza claytoni
Showy Orchis Galearis spectabilis
Putty Root Aplectrum hyemale
Greenbriar Smilax rotundifolia
Hooked Buttercup Ranunculus recurvatus
Early Buttercup Ranunculus fascicularis
Small-flowered Crowfoot Ranunculus abortivus
Early Meadow Rue Thalictrum dioicum
Lyreleaf Sage Salvia lyrata
Scorpion Grass Myosotis macrosperma (or M. verna)
Summer Bluet Houstonia purpurea
Wild Ginger Asarum canadensis
Slender Toothwort Dentaria heterophylla
Smooth Rock Cress Arabis laevigata
Dwarf Crested Iris Iris cristata
Blue Cohosh Caulophyllum thalictroides
Hearts-a-Bustin Euonymus americanus
Seersucker Sedge Carex plantaginea
Henbit Lamium amplexicaule *
Cleavers Galium aparine
Carolina Silverbell Halesia carolina
Dogwood Cornus floridus

Ferns
Rattlesnake Fern Botrychium virginianum
Maidenhair Fern Adiantum pedatum
Wood Fern Dryopteris sp.
Appalachian Fern
Christmas Fern Polystichum acrostichoides

Total: 56 species of flowering plants, shrubs & trees.