Late May through early June is a great time to hunt wildflowers in the high elevations of the Central Appalachians. Many of the plants found on the higher slopes are more at home in the cold, moist boreal forests of Maine and Canada. Isolated populations were pushed south during the last ice age and have clung to their high mountaintop homes ever since. Above is a sampling of late sprint wildflowers from Spruce Knob, the highest summit in West Virginia.
1 - 2. Canada columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) and foliage. Native Americans regarded the crushed seeds as a love charm.
3 - 4. Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), also known as creeping dogwood. This lovely little wildflower is actually in the dogwood family. The red fruit of the bunchberry is edible and has a very mild, apple-like flavor.
5. A trio of pink lady slipper orchids (Cypripedium acaule). These beautiful orchids were out in droves yesterday in the rocky, heath-covered meadows of Spruce Mountain.
6. A late-blooming painted trillium (Trillium undulatum). These plants love the highly acid soil associated with boreal and temperate coniferous forests and are often found growing in the shade beneath hemlock, red spruce, and fir trees in the Appalachians. Peak bloom was already over by the time I arrived on the mountain this weekend.
7 - 8. Yellow Clintonia (Clintonia borealis) and foliage. This shade-loving wildflower is a member of the lily family and (like painted trillium) is most often found growing in boreal and temperate coniferous forests. It’s also known as the blue-bead lily due to its distinctive blue berries.
9. Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense). Also known as false lily-of-the-valley, this is another wildflower commonly found in both temperate deciduous and coniferous forests of the Central Appalachians.
10. Wild bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia) or turkey corn. This beautiful wildflower blooms from spring through autumn in the high Appalachians. On Spruce Knob, these plants are found growing in the nooks and crannies of the fragmented sandstone on the slopes, often side-by-side with mapleleaf or hairy alumroot (Heuchera villosa).
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