Dan Rawlins introduced us to a very special area in the Cooper's Creek Wildlife Management Area on the Duncan Ridge Trail in Georgia. With a chilly and overcast morning, 15 hardy participants were rewarded as the rain held off until the end. The forest was beautiful with so many blooming Pink Lady's Slippers, Cypripedium acaule, which were found under a Pine forest that had well-drained soils and a consistently low pH that favors the conditions that the slippers like. After admiring and photographing them we headed down a lovely trail to learn more from Dan about the plants around us. Other plants blooming were Yellow Star Grass, Canada Violets, Yellow Mandarin, MayApple, Crested Dwarf Iris, Foam Flower, Umbrella Leaf, Mountain Meadow Rue, Meadow Parsnip, Catesby's Trillium, Vasey's Trilium, Large Flowered Trillium, Solomon's Plume and Dutchman's Pipe. Dan had many stories to relate about the plants and how they got their names. We thank Dan for a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience in a beautiful forest.
Photos by David Fann:
Photos by Karen Lawrence:
Looks like an ideal place for Cypripedium acaule. I nearly always see them in the second decade of a pine forest. I suppose it takes a little while for the fungal associate mycelium to develop to catch the small spores to start such an extesive colony. Good Acidic Cover Forest specie here.
ReplyDeletePerhaps 5th photo down could be called "slips!". We might consider the Dutchman's pipevine (now classified as Isotrema macrophyllum to function somewhat like kudzu in open woods. It does tend to grow up with small trees to form considerable subcanopy cover but nothing like Pureraria montana (lobata) does.
ReplyDeleteI would love to make a trip this May to see the lady slippers. Could you tell me where on the trail they are? Thanks
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