Wildflowers of the Great Smoky Mountains

More than 1400 species of wildflowers are native to the Great Smoky Mountains. Every spring in late April Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the site of the week-long annual spring wildflower pilgrimage [1] to celebrate this diversity. The park is also the site of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory [2] to inventory all the living organisms in the park. This article lists some of these Wildflowers of the Great Smoky Mountains and references sites for further research.

Threats

Plant poaching is a major threat in the park. In particular, ginseng is a popular target. Removal of specimens such as trilliums and orchids for private gardens is also threatening these populations.[3] The hemlock woolly adelgid has destroyed most of the hemlocks within the park. The Emerald ash borer is also very destructive of native tree species.

Air pollution is also injurious to native plant populations in the park.

Examples
ImageLatin nameCommon names
AquilegiaGranny's bonnet or Columbine
Asclepias quadrifoliaFourleaf milkweed or whorled milkweed
Carex plantagineaseersucker sedge or plaintainleaf sedge
Caulophyllum thalictroidesBlue cohosh
ChamaeliriumBlazing-star, Devil's bit, False unicorn, Fairy wand, or Helonias
Claytonia virginicaEastern spring beauty, Virginia spring beauty, or fairy spud
Clintonia alleghaniensisWhite Clintonia, Clinton's Lilly, Speckled Wood Lily
Conopholis americanaSquawroot
Cymophyllus fraserianusFraser's sedge
CypripedioideaeYellow Lady Slippers
Delphinium tricorneDwarf larkspur
Dicentra canadensisSquirrel Corn
Dicentra cucullariaDutchman's Breeches
Dicentra eximiaBleeding heart
Diervilla sessilifoliasouthern bush honeysuckle
Diphylleia cymosa
Dodecatheon meadiaShooting stars
Epigaea repensmayflower or trailing arbutus
Euonymus obovatusRunning strawberry bush
Hexastylis arifolialittle brown jug
Hexastylis virginicaVirginia heartleaf
Iris cristataDwarf Crested Iris or Crested Iris
Lycopus americanusWater horehound
Maianthemum racemosumTreacleberry or feathery false lily of the valley
Micranthes micranthidifoliaLettuceleaf saxifrag, branch lettuce, or brook lettuce
Mitchella repensPartridge berry or squaw vine
Monarda didymaBee balm
Monotropsis odorataSweet pinesap or pygmy pipes
Osmorhiza claytoniiClayton's sweetroot
Oxalis montanamountain woodsorrel, wood shamrock, sours, white woodsorrel
Panax quinquefoliusAmerican ginseng
Penstemon canescensEastern gray beardtongue
Phacelia bipinnatifidaFernleaf phacelia, or spotted phacelia
Phacelia fimbriataFringed phacelia
Phacelia purshiiMiami mist
Prosartes lanuginosaYellow mandarin, or yellow fairybells
Prosartes maculatayellow mandarin, spotted mandarin, or nodding mandarin
Rhododendron calendulaceumFlame azalea
Rugelia nudicaulisRugel's Indian plantain or Rugels ragwort
Sanicula smalliiSmall's blacksnakeroot
SedumStonecrop
Stachys clingmaniiClingman's hedgenettle
Synandra hispidulaGuyandotte beauty
Thalictrum dioicumQuicksilver-weed
Thalictrum thalictroidesRue anemone
Trillium catesbaeiBashful wakerobin or rosy wake-robin
Trillium luteumYellow wakerobin or yellow trillium
Trillium vaseyiSweet wakerobin or sweet beth
Viola appalachiensisAppalachian blue violet, Appalachian violet, or Henry's violet
Viola pedataBirdsfoot violet, bird's-foot violet, or mountain pansy
Viola rotundifoliaroundleaf yellow violet
Xanthorhiza simplicissimaYellowroot

See also

Resources
  • Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers: When & Where to Find Them (Paperback)by Carlos C. Campbell, Aaron J. Sharp, Robert W. Hutson, William F. Hutson, Windy Pines Pub,(April 1996),ISBN 0-9643417-3-5
  • Wildflowers Of Tennessee, The Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians (Paperback)by Dennis Horn and Tavia Cathcart, Lone Pine Publishing (2005), ISBN 1-55105-428-0

References
  1. http://www.springwildflowerpilgrimage.org
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-12-06. Retrieved 2006-11-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/threats-to-wildflowers.htm
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