Just Over The Line

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit a private 7-acre property in Tallahassee, FL that is naturally rich in Trillium underwoodii, one of the early blooming toadshade trilliums. This trillium species is native to south Georgia into Florida and Alabama. Tallahassee is south of the Georgia state line via GA 27 from Bainbridge or GA 319 from Cairo/Thomasville - it is just a cartographer’s squiggle away from being in Georgia. I paired the trip with a visit to Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve in the Cairo/Whigham area in Georgia.

Trillium underwoodii

The trip to the garden was arranged by the Georgia Botanical Society, an organization whose field trips extend the length and breadth of the state. I don’t always take the time (and my vacation days off from work) to go to the ones furthest away, but this particular trip was tempting. Coupled with the timing of a great trout lily bloom season at Wolf Creek, it seemed like the right time to go see both.

Love the blue of Phlox divaricata

Zephyranthes atamasca

We were treated to a number of spring-blooming plants in the front of the property: woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata), Atamasco lilies (Zephyranthes atamasca), trilliums of several species, and toothwort (Cardamine sp.), among others. Even here, spring was yet to be in full bloom, with a number of heavily budded native azaleas scattered throughout. Around the back, however, one azalea dared to risk it: a tall Piedmont azalea (Rhododendron canescens) held its open, fragrant flowers high for all to admire.

Fragrant Rhododendron canescens

Baby beech with seed still attached

Before we moved into the woodlands, we stopped to talk under a canopy of tall trees. Seedlings of American beech (Fagus grandifolia) were all around our feet, and I was delighted to find a few just emerged, wearing like a hat the outer shell of the seed from which they sprouted! You can still see the two embryonic leaves (or cotyledons) that demonstrate that American beech is a dicot.

Into the forest we walked, single file, admiring the numerous Trillium underwoodii around us on both sides. This trillium species is naturally occurring on the property and their shapes and sizes varied as expected with a large population: short, tall, wide, skinny. The patterns on the leaves changed a bit but consistently presented the silver stripe down the center for which this species is known (yes, there are other differences but for the average person, the stripe helps). I had spent the previous day looking at Trillium maculatum at Wolf Creek and so was anxious to compare the two. Here is a good trillium reference that I saved from a 2010 presentation by Tom Patrick, perhaps the best trillium expert in Georgia (and he was with us for this trip).

We passed over one of the property’s creeks and saw a unique site: a flowering chokeberry that still had one of last year’s fruits.  The area also had flowering leatherwood shrubs (Dirca palustris) and dimpled trout lilies (Erythronium umbilicatum). As we got deeper into the woods, we passed huge southern magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora). It was wonderful to see these trees in their natural range.

Unfortunately, the path wasn’t all smiles – I got to see firsthand the struggle folks in this area have with coral ardisia (Ardisia crenata), a horribly invasive woodland shrub that makes thick colonies and spreads by fruit and roots. Several folks pulled up plants along the way but we were hardly making a dent in the population overall.

As we finished up our visit, Dan Miller pointed a large, single-leaved trillium. He said that he called this a ‘dead-end’ trillium. Over the years he had watched trilliums like this develop single leaves that get bigger and bigger but never develop into the next stage of growth (3 leaves).

We also found several examples of trilliums with more than 3 leaves (4-6 instead of 3) but still always with a single flower. It was a fun trip learning more about this beautiful trillium.