As we scooted quickly along the coast of Georgia towards South
Carolina, I thought how irritating it was I had yet to see any _S.rubra_
plants, and had already passed through the ranges of _S.r.gulfensis_
and _S.r.wherryi_ with no sightings. Also, I was not planning on looking
for the rare subspecies, so _S.rubra rubra_ was my only hope left for this
species. As we drove, I noticed that the _Aletris lutea_ so common
in the gulf coast disappeared, but that yellow-flowered plant was replaced
by its white-flowered cousin _Aletris farinosa_ which served as an
equally effective indicator.
Bridgett and I spent about 10 days in a beach house in Charleston, S.C.,
with friends and family. As family reunions can get a little stressful
at times, I used several hours every morning to explore some locations
I'd been given. It was very therapeutic! I went to Biedler swamp,
which is a lovely tract of pristine Cypress (_Taxodium distichum_) near
Columbia. Even though no CP were seen, you should put this on your list
of things to do. A boardwalk takes you deep into the swamp and a pretty
good pamphlet guides you along. There is a lookout over a lake in the swamp
where you can look at snakes and turtles.
You know, I haven't mentioned the snakes, have I? There are many,
many snakes. Every time I got out of the car to poke around a wet
area I was nearly guaranteed to see at least one snake. And since you are
walking in thick grasses, you can rarely see the ground, so there were
no doubt many others that went unnoticed. A particularly memorable time
was when I was photographing a lovely serpent sitting on a muddy bank.
Since the mud was black it would have fooled my light meter so I metered
on the grasses at my feet. Imagine my surprise when I saw through my
viewfinder that this random patch of grass at my feet had a nice fat
serpent coiled in it. I became ballistic. Many snakes. Many many snakes.
Perhaps one of my favorite locations in South Carolina was in the
Francis Marion National Forest, where grew _S.flava, S.minor,
D.capillaris, U.subulata, P.caerulea, U.inflata, U.purpurea_, and the
usual orchids and colourful indicators, with purple _Iris tridentata_.
In the Carolinas _S.flava_ copper-lid abounds. All-green plants were
also common. In contrast with the variation in _S.flava_, _S.minor_
showed very little variation---all the plants looked exactly the same.
I noticed many very large _D.capillaris_ and wondered if they were the
`Carolina giant' type. The CP around here usually occur in areas forested
with _Pinus palustris_, which has some very interesting adaptations to
keep it from being killed by the occasional brushfires.
One spontaneous stop to examine a thick growth of Pickerel Weed
(_Pontedaria cordata_) showed that a single unassuming drainage
ditch supported colonies of _U.inflata,U.gibba,U.subulata,U.purpurea_,
and of course a few snakes.
Still I found no _S. rubra rubra_. Once I was preparing to leave a
savannah when the wind changed and I was given a few wafts of a strong
fruity smell---_S.rubra rubra_ flowers! But as I poked around the logs and
grasses, I glanced at my watch. At that moment (1)I realized that I was out
of time for the day, (2)I was nearly surrounded by poison ivy, (3) I heard
a snake sliding through the grasses away from me. Seized by triple anxiety
(familial duties, ivy, snake) I quit my search.
I spent some time in the area where the eye of hurricane Hugo came ashore,
and the devastation was incredible. Some areas lost 80% of the trees. The
CP were unaffected, and probably enjoy the extra sunshine. Indeed, the
only places where the CP were affected were where the forest service
decided to pick up the downed wood (for fire prevention reasons). In
those places destruction by logging trucks was complete. Incidentally,
have you ever seen a forest blown over by a hurricane? Instead of being
toppled at its base, the trees were snapped about 3--5 meters above
the ground, and looked like a bunch of broken wooden matches. Incredible.
Since I mentioned snakes, I should mention the other vermin encountered.
Every day I returned from my trips, I'd look for ticks. During all my
forays I only got eight ticks, which isn't too bad. But when one bite
produced a rash, everyone around went nonlinear. You see, six of the
family/friends were doctors, toss in a few who were nurses, and my wife
is a physical therapist. So everyone was shouting about Lyme disease.
So I had to get blood tests. The other nasty critters were deer flies
(aka yellow flies). These weren't too bad most of the time, and were
kept at bay by bug spray. A particularly humourous incident occurred
on a field trip where my wife came along with her mountain bike. While I
puttered around photographing CP, she came racing back down the dirt road
shouting and screaming, followed by a cloud---an actual cloud---of these
biting flies. She threw down her bike, jumped in our Toyota, and rolled
up the windows. Even though I walked up to the truck they showed no
interest in me and dispersed---and I was wearing no bug spray. Perhaps because
she was exercising, and was hot and sweaty they were attracted to her?
Or maybe they like tight lycra? Well it was pretty funny.
The last South Carolina site worth mentioning was just southeast of Columbia.
There lies a bog, a genuine bog. All the other locations had been savannahs
or the occasional swamp. Seeing the sort of wetland with which I was
familiar was heartwarming. This bog was filled with _Sphagnum_ and many
different pond plants (_Nymphaea odorata, Pontedaria cordata, Nuphar lutea_)
and a population of huge _S.flava rugelii_, the largest I have ever seen.
I think they may have been fairly classed as a _maxima_ type. Also at the
bog edges were _S. purpurea venosa_ growing in the _Sphagnum_. And finally
I found _S.rubra_! Don Schnell said these plants were intermediate between
_S.r.rubra_ and _S.r.jonesii_---I haven't seen enough to judge. Also in this
lovely site were _D.capillaris, intermedia,rotundifolia_ (that last
species surprised me!) and _U.gibba_ and _U.striata_. This bog was so pretty
I came back a few times. A friend of mine is the S. Carolina chief of the
Nature Conservancy, and he told me that this bog has a conservation
easement placed upon it (partially because of a rare _Vaccinium_ found
there) and so will be there for a long time! That was very nice to hear.
For those who care, the pH of this bog varied from 4.9--5.1.
Having explored this part of S. Carolina and turned down an offer from
my Nature Conservancy buddy to inspect some wild stands of _S.rubra jonesii_
(there's only 24 hours in a day), we readied our gear for a trip back
to Georgia to canoe in the Okefenokee swamp to look for 'gators.
To be continued...