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Mountain Hike
by Bill Kittle
Begin a cool summer morning
with a moderate stroll
along a meandering stream
flowing from mountains above.
Climb rock steps through Arch Rock.
Forgetful of time, approach Inspiration Point.
Windows of beauty widen with each step.
Spot falcons flying free.
Rhythmic chimes of falling dew drops
signal a greeting by towering bluffs.
Cautious navigation of slippery sandstone
is forgotten as we climb a notched log.
Cable hand rails guide unstable pathway.
Nature’s amphitheatre welcomes each guest.
Dainty Grass of Parnassus cover an emerald blanket.
Indigo Gentians dot the ridges.
Nature’s garden sprawls across the summit.
Canary Cone Flower, plum Monk’s Hood,
And lime Angelica are home to buzzing bees.
Another mile to Myrtle Point.
Bask awhile on an outcrop of silence.
Nibble on a long awaited snack.
Cling to the moments of the joyous day,
for soon we go below.
Each season surprises me.
Majestic mountains make memories.
Mount LeConte calls for my return,
and when I do, it’s fifty times.
Ode to Chuck Cooper and DLIA
DLIA/All Taxa is amassing a wonderful database of images depicting a bewildering variety of life forms. My boss asked me to give them a visit and bring back “the best ones” for our new magazine.
Wow, that’s a tough job. There are so many. I like the spiders best, other people like the gleaming metallic beetles or the elegant dragon flies. Of course the springtails are pretty fabulous, then there are the butterflies! And the plants....
Chuck Cooper patiently opens file after file, enlarging the photos I point to.
Several times during our two and a half hour tour Chuck tries to draw my attention to a photo of a clam. But the clam doesn’t grab me and I don’t ask him to enlarge the photo.
When I’m finished and preparing to leave, he goes back to the clam one more time. He clicks on the thumbnail photo to enlarge the image, then he points out his favorite areas of the pearly shell.
As he talks about the clam, I retrieve my notebook to write down what he says. I’m glad I got it down exactly as he said it, because it was a poem.
Here’s Chuck’s Impromptu Poem to a Lowly But Lovely Clam.
“This clam, it’s so small.
It’s a thing we'll never notice.
It'll filter our dirty water for us and die for its trouble.
This animal can’t even see!
But look how beautiful it is...”
I was glad I finally looked.
Of course that’s what DLIA is all about – giving us a chance to take a look at things we don’t normally notice and, when we think we’re too busy to look, asking us to make the time.
Upside
Down Wildflowers!
Although
I've lived on a heavily wooded
farm in East Knox County nearly all
my life, I know next to nothing
about wildflowers. This shocking
situation could not continue
unabated (according to my bosses)
since I am now the newest employee
of the Great Smoky Mountains Association.
So, every so often, one or another
other of the sporty wilderness-type
GSMA staff have been trotting
me around the park on my lunch hour.
It's a strange group -- people who
hike in office attire.
As
Herbert Viola said on Moonlighting:
"I like this place.
It's crazy. It's like a special
class in junior high where every day
is an assembly or a field trip."
If
you wonder, like I did, what all the
fuss is about, please refer to the
photographs below. (Left photo
by Kris Light, right by Ed Grosvenor.)
Okay, so it actually is a fairy land...
 
The
shock of these first few jaunts
in the woods to confront my own stupidity
have moved me to compile a wildflower
primer for other beginners. It's not
your normal kind of natural history
tome, however. It is more reflective
of the rude shocks I experienced at
the hands of my tree-hugging-dirt-loving
officemates. Thus, it is a list
of oddball, offbeat, and even
gruesome wildflowers.
My
first grouping is of wildflowers which
bloom underneath their own
leaves! Think about that for a moment.
Sure, I'd heard of "shrinking violets"
but nobody ever told me about
flowers that were actually paranoid.
The guidebook euphamism for these
tricky, sneaky flowers is "shy beauty."
Yeah, shy, like Boo Radley, like the
Unabomber.
FYI, each and every one of
these stunning images are from Kris
Light's amazing photo archive.
Kris is a wildflower naturalist and
photographer extraordinaire whose
website rocks! You gotta see
it to believe it. Check it out
at http://www.easttennesseewildflowers.com/.
Wild Ginger Asarum canadense
Birthwort Family
Stare really hard at the dirt below this plant and you'll see
a brownish thing. THAT is the
flower! Native Americans and
European settlers used this plant
to treat sore throats and for the
ginger-like flavor of its roots.
Little Brown Jugs Hexastylis
arifola Birthwort Family
Same kind of dirt-level flower as on the wild ginger above.
A tea brewed from these stems was
used to treat whooping cough.
Effective antibiotics have been discoverd
in this plant. It is sometimes
called "heartleaf" and it was used
to treat various heart conditions.
May-apple Podophyllum peltatum Barberry
Family
Note the flower BELOW the umbrella-like leaves. Also known as Mandrake, Devil�s
Apple, Hog Apple, Indian Apple Raccoonberry,
Umbrella Plant, Witches Umbrella..
Used by the Cherokee
for many ailments, including liver
troubles, warts, and to restore hearing.
Modern medical research has discovered
anti-cancer properties. Large
doses can be toxic and potentially
deadly. Manroot or Mandrake
was thought to be a living being which
uttered a scream so terrible when
it was pulled from the ground anyone
who heard it would become insane.
 
Smooth Solomon�s Seal Polygonatum
biflorum var. biflorum Lily
Family
The dangling little green things are the FLOWERS! The
scars on the roots of this plant when
the leaf stalk dies back and is removed
are said to resemble two overlapping
triangles, or a Star of David.
The root is edible and was used to
make tea to treat many internal and
external ailments such as cuts, bruises,
constipation, rheumatism, and coughs.
Wild Strawberry Fragaria virginiana
Rose Family
Kris managed to find one where you can see the flowers sticking
out from UNDERNEATH the leaves.
Not easy to do. Leaves are edible
if brewed in a tea and are a good
source of vitamin C.
 
Vasey�s Trillium Trillium vaseyi
Lily Family
Note the flower dangling DOWN under the main part of
the plant. Largest and latest
blooming of the North. Lives
only in the southern Appalachians.
Smooth Yellow Violet Viola pubescens
var. leiocarpon Violet Family
Don't be fooled by the pretty yellow flower. Many violets
can produce two kinds of flowers.
In this species, after the prominent
yellow �petalled flowers are produced,
inconspicuous cleistogamous
colorless flowers may form, often
near the base of the plant.
Clei-what you say?
I think it's Latin for "flowers that
aren't really flowers." These
flowers never open, lack conspicuous
petals, and are self-fertilized (they'd
have to be since they are nearly invisible).
The nice yellow flowers are pollinated
the regular way by bees and butterflies.
Wood-Sorrel Oxalis Montana Wood-sorrel
Family
Just like the tricky violet above, this
plant has two sets of flowers.
Nice small white blossoms etched with
pink lines above the leaves and below
the leaves is a closed, self-pollinating
flower. The leaves contain oxalic
acid which makes apples sour and this
plant taste bitter. I felt pretty
bitter myself from just trying
to find the clei-something
flowers.
  
Yellow Mandarin Disporum lanuginosum
Lily Family
See how the flower dangles UPSIDE DOWN?
So, unless you're about two inches
tall, it's invisible. Also called
Bellwort. This applies any of thefour
flowers in the Uvularia genus.
Note the flower is named for THE THING
THAT DANGLES DOWN IN THE BACK OF YOUR
THROAT. Native
Americans used a tea made from the
roots as a wash or a poultice made
from the upper plant for muscle and
joint aches and pains.
Trailing Arbutus Epigaea repens
Heath Family
Another clever photo from Kris leads you
to believe you would ever run across
a bloom this obvious and not buried
under the leaf litter like in real
life. Its sweet spicy scent
is all you will ever find as far as
I'm concerned. This is the earliest
flowering wildflower in the Smokies.
It's also known as mayflower because
legend says it was the first flower
seen by the Pilgrims after their disastrous
first winter in New England.
Wildflowers That Don�t Even Look
Like Flowers!
Again,
for my fellow beginners, here is my
roster of tricky wildflowers that
appear to be dead or look like something
you don't even want to know about.
These are the kind of wildflowers
that when the experts say, "See?",
the beginner says, "What?"
The guidebooks paper-over the strangeness
of these flowers with phrases like
"delicate beauty."
Pennywort Obolaria virginica
Gentain Family
Kris deserves an award for this. These
"flowers" are tiny and on a plant
so short, fairies would crush it.
In typical understatement the
guidebook says, "Inconspicuous is
the word to keep in mind when looking
for pennywort. It is usually
only 3� tall. The flowers are
easily overlooked even when fully
open." Yeah, tell me about it.
I think maybe Kris did a little PhotoShopping
on this one.
 
Pussy Toes Antennaria neglecta
Aster Family
The guidebook says, "This low-growing plant
can be overlooked even in full bloom."
Uh huh. So you better have an
expert with you if you want to see
it. There are several flower
heads in a tight cluster at the top
of the stem. The heads are so
compact and small that they appear
to be in bud even when blooming.
Beechdrops Epifagus virginiana
Broom-rape Family
Near an American Beech Tree, all you'll
see are a bunch of reddish-brown twigs
sprouting from the forest floor.
"Like all other members of the Broom-rape
family, beechdrops lacks chlorophyll
and is wholly parasitic, stealing
nutrients from the roots of beech
trees. Its leaves are mere scales.
Its �� flowers are reddish brown to
dark brown." Not a plant you'd
put on the cover of your wildflower
guidebook.
 
Indian Cucumber Medeola virginiana
Lily Family
Several "rather inconspicuous" spidery flowers
with a greenish-yellow cast "nod below"
the uppermost set of leaves.
The plant�s white, underground rhizomes
were a favored food of Native Americans
and early settlers.
 
Jack-in-the-Pulpit Arisaema triphyllum
ArumFamily
The true flowers of this plant are tiny
and clustered around the feet of �Jack.�
A carrion (!) odor and maroon color
are clues that this flower is pollinated
by flies. By the way,
apparently there are also plenty of
Jills-in-the-Pulpit around too (true,
told to me by Janet Rock, a park botanist),
but nobody ever talks about them,
do they? Females cannot get
a break in this man's world.
 
Green Dragon Arisaema dracontium
Arum Family
Think of green dragon as a Jack-in-the-pulpit with attitude.
Green dragon has a claw that
protrudes out of a leafy sheath.
The flowers have a disagreeable
odor. All parts of this plant
contain toxic calcium oxalate
crystals. Just quoting the guidebook.
Indian Pipe or Ghost Pipe
A charming (not) bit of fungus also called Corpse Plant, Ice
Plant, or Fairy Smoke. Don't
make me describe this FUNGUS flower.
Used by Native Americans as a sedative
and for eye inflammations and skin
problems.
Any Grass or Sedge
Fraser�s Sedge Cymophyllus fraserianus
Sedge Family
Found only in Southern or Central Appalachians,
most often in forests that have never
been logged. (Not too many of
those around any more.) Used
for Q-tips by Native Americans. (I
made that up).
Many thanks to Annette
Hartigan and Steve Kemp for trying
to teach me about these "shy" and
"delicate" "beauties" and insisting
even in the face of my sputtering
that, yes, these were indeed
flowers and, yes, they were actually
blooming right now.
Check back in the
future for my further lists of wildflowers:
Wildflowers That Smell Horrible
and Wildflowers That Will
Kill You.
If you're
interested in wildflowers, you can see
a nice book about them written by my boss
by clicking on this link: Wildflower
Guide Book.
If you want to come
look at the darn things for yourself,
we have a Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage
every year for just this purpose. Check
it out at http://www.springwildflowerpilgrimage.org
To see all the trail, wildflower, and fall foliage updates from 2007, click here.
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