#trailing arbutus

[peaceinthestorm]

Fidelia Bridges (1835-1924, American) ~ Trailing Arbutus, 1863

[Source: nga.gov]

[vandaliatraveler]

NC-WV is finally enjoying a dry, sunny spring weekend after weeks of near nonstop, flooding rain. That was all the incentive I needed to take my first long hike of the spring at Coopers Rock State Forest. The wildflower progression on top of Chestnut Ridge is running about 2 weeks behind that at lower elevations, but there were plenty of early spring beauties on display this afternoon. From top: Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis); long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata); halberd-leaved yellow violet (Viola hastata); downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens); trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens), which is not herbaceous but a mat-forming, evergreen shrub in the health family; broadleaf toothwort (Cardamine diphylla), also known as two-leaf toothwort; and round-lobed hepatica (Hepatica americana), which prefers drier woods than sharp-lobed hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba), which I typically find growing on the rocky, calcareous slopes along the Monongahela River.

[wanderestless]

speedwell, coreopsis, and trailing arbutus for newly-married friends

[geopsych]

I had to really zoom with the camera to get these pictures of trailing arbutus on a high bank. Sadly they were too far away for their scent to reach me and there weren't many, but I'm happy to see them blooming again!

[cedar-glade]

Trailing arbutus heath,

Epigaea repens

Probably one of the more inconspicuous members of the heath family, these Appalachian wildflowers are widely associated with lithophytic assemblages. They bloom as early as late February depending on micro climate, however, are more associated with May bloom times. These small evergreen wildflowers are easy to miss as the flower umbels are usually hidden by both leaf litter and their own winter tattered foliage. 

These photographs were taken at Grey’s Arch Pass, Red River Gorge, KY Mid way up the local cliff face. March 15, 2018

[vandaliatraveler]

A few mementos from a short hike on the Virgin Hemlock Tail this morning. Cold, damp weather has settled into NC West Virginia, but any rain is welcome following an unusually dry winter and spring (opposite of the West Coast). From top: the ever balletic but stinky red trillium (Trillium erectum); long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata); wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia), longing for a burst of sun to open its flowers; trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens), a ground-hugging shrub in the heath family; early meadow-rue (Thalictrum dioicum); and an Eastern red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus), a terrestrial salamander of rich, damp mountain woods.

[vandaliatraveler]

You descend into the canyon on an old logging road long ago forgotten by the rest of the world, into rich, damp woods that suddenly grow quiet and still, except for an occasional junco flitting through the dripping underbrush. You stop to get your bearings. A tree near you has been shredded into a million soft, wet splinters by a bear. Closer, a racoon has left its delicate prints in the sediment at the edge of a pooling stream, where it came searching for crayfish last night. You stoop under a branch and step to your left onto a moss-covered rock. You catch your balance. The stream falls away below your feet in a cascade of foamy whitewater, churning through boulders and rhododendron thickets to its final destination. You recognize something familiar in a place that you have never been to before - the ancient, connective energy that resonates through all wild places. You are home. 

[vandaliatraveler]

Above are a few more early spring mementos from my hikes around Coopers Rock State Forest this past weekend. I mostly followed the core loop trails: Clay Run, Advanced and Intermediate Ski, Headwaters, and Rhododendron. The wildflowers and early herbaceous foliage are as follows (top to bottom): trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens); downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens); long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata); early yellow violet (Viola rotundifolia); halberd-leaved yellow violet (Viola hastata); and three-leaved rattlesnake-root (Nabalus trifoliolatus), a.k.a., gall-of-the-earth.