#small cranberry

[vandaliatraveler]

Hazy mid-summer day on the Sods, Part 1.

Photos are from the South Prong Trail, heading towards Roaring Plains. The pine barrens death camas (Stenanthium leimanthoides) growing in the bogs and seeps of the Plains is simply stunning this year. Such a toxic little beauty - death incarnate. Also, the mountain angelica (Angelica triquinata) is getting ready to bloom - I think of this tall, Appalachian endemic as the mid to late summer counterpart of cow parsnip. And how about that fabulous orange-fringed orchid (Platanthera ciliaris), which is just now reaching peak bloom in our high-elevation mountain bogs? The showy perennial is more commonly referred to as yellow-fringed orchid, but I have no clue why; every plant I've found in this neck of the woods has a hue similar to a Sunkist navel orange.

[natureinsight]

Vaccinium oxycoccos, karpalo

[vandaliatraveler]

Dolly Sods and the adjacent Flat Rock and Roaring Plains sprawl across a rugged plateau at the edge of the Allegheny Front, which drains much of the moisture from passing clouds. The water drains poorly on the plateau, resulting in sphagnum bogs that host a variety of plants and animals uniquely adapted to the cool, acidic environment.

From top: Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), which in combination with blueberry, huckleberry and minniebush forms impenetrable thickets along the edges of the bogs; spoonleaf sundew (Drosera intermedia), also known as spatulate-leaved sundew, one of two species of carnivorous sundew to grow here; small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos), also known as bog cranberry, whose tiny flowers have strongly recurved petals; possumhaw viburnum (Viburnum nudum), also known as wild raisin due to its vibrantly-hued fruits in the fall; canaan fir (Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis), a recognized subspecies of balsam fir known from only a few locations in West Virginia and Virginia; and bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), which grows prolifically in the dappled sunlight along trail edges.

[vandaliatraveler]

Above are a few leftovers from my orchid hunt at Cranberry Glades this past weekend. From top: small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos), whose delicate pink flowers with recurved petals are easy to overlook in the sphagnum; an otherworldly ensemble of purple pitcher plant flowers; the creamy, thread-like flowers of tall meadow rue (Thalictrum pubescens); narrowleaf blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium), a member of the iris (Iridaceae) family; a ramp flower, which appears in June or July after the leaves of this wild onion have died back; swamp dewberry (Rubus hispidus), a creeping, bog-loving blackberry that forms dense colonies on the ground; plantain-leaved sedge (Carex plantaginea), arguably the most beautiful of our broad-leaved woodland sedges; and another photo of tuberous grass pink (Calopogon tuberosus), whose architectural splendor speaks for itself. 

[vandaliatraveler]

The hills are alive . . .  with wild blueberries. I literally ate my way through Yellow Creek Preserve yesterday. The berries (Vaccinium angustifolium and Vaccinium pallidum) are at peak ripeness in the local mountains - and they are sweeter and more nutritious than anything you can buy in a store. Meanwhile, bog cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) is on the way (bottom photo). The cranberries will ripen in late summer, long after the blueberries have been eaten by wildlife (and people) or withered away.

[vandaliatraveler]

Camouflaged in a patch of rusty peat moss (Sphagnum fuscum) and small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos), a round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) ensnares a hapless victim in its sticky tentacles. Sundew may be the coolest plant in the bog, but if you aren’t looking for this tiny wonder, you’ll never know it’s there. Photo taken on the South Prong Trail in Flatrock Plains.

[vandaliatraveler]

In the cold sphagnum bogs of Appalachia's higher mountains, small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) sends out delicate, vine-like stems with small, leathery leaves that root where they come into contact with the damp peat. A trailing perennial shrub in the heath (Ericaceae) family, the plant is found throughout the Northern Hemisphere and as far south as the mountain bogs of West Virginia and Virginia in Central Appalachia. Small cranberry forms fragile, drooping pink flowers in the spring. These flowers are replaced by lustrous red berries from late August through October; they contrast sharply with the dull-brown-red sphagnum of late autumn. The edible berries have a familiar, sweet-tart flavor and were once favored by Native Americans as an accompaniment to wild game. The above photos were taken along the South Prong Trail in the Red Creek Plains of the Monongahela National Forest and the Cranesville Swamp Preserve.

[vandaliatraveler]

A dwarf, creeping, evergreen shrub in a high elevation bog might easily be overlooked amid vivid red hummocks of sphagnum and bight green tufts of haircap moss if not for an occasional colorful advertisement. Twice a year, small cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) does just that. In the spring, this vine-like member of the heath family blooms profusely over the spongy moss where it lives, adding a lovely pink aura to Appalachia’s high elevation peat bogs and fens. The tiny, nodding flowers with their re-curved pink corollas and protruding orange-red stamens have a graceful, balletic appearance. In the fall, the plant produces another colorful display; the berries that replaced the flowers in the spring turn bright red and light up the bog like strands of Christmas tree lights.  Also known bog cranberry and swamp cranberry, the shrub spreads by a process of layering, in which its prostrate stems create new roots where they touch the ground. Native Americans collected the plant’s berries for food (especially as a sweetener to add to pemmican), as a medicine to treat wounds, and as a dye for rugs and blankets.