Rhododendron

Rhododendron

Chimaphila

Gaultheria

Black Cohosh slope

Me acting stupid!

June 30, 2013
My son, youngest daughter and I took a trip to Rhododendron Cove in late June to get photos of the Rhododendron.  I had been there earlier in the year and had photographed Mountain Laurel but apparently I had walked right past the Flame Azalea without recognizing it.

This time we were successful in bagging our quarry.  On the way in to the cove we past some other hikers and they confirmed that the Rhododendron was in bloom, although once we got to the top of the hill, I was somewhat surprised by how little of the Rhododendron was in bloom.

As we walked up the trail we encountered a large patch of Black Cohosh in bloom and I immediately put the kids to work looking for ants among the inflorescences.  A relatively rare butterfly, the Appalachian Azure, uses Black Cohosh as its caterpillar host plant.  I had found Appalachian Azure larva at Clear Creek Metro Park, only a few miles away, in 2011, so I hoped that perhaps it would be at Rhodie Cove as well.  We examined a couple dozen plants, but no luck finding ants.  We looked for ants because the ants farm the butterfly larva, and the dark colored ants are much easier to see against the white inflorescences than the white caterpillars.

Once we got on top of the hill, we also found Chimaphila and Gaultheria in bloom.  In all honesty, I thought I had missed the Chimaphila.  I was hoping I might find some going into fruit.  The acidic hilltops in the Hocking Hills region is great for plants in the heath family, including Rhododendron and Gaultheria.  Chimaphila likes acidic hillsides as well.

While we only found a few new species, they were good ones, plants that I would have found elsewhere only by luck.