Wildflowers of the Great Smoky Mountains

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The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to over 1,500 different species of flowering plants—more than any other North American national park, earning it the nickname of the "Wildflower National Park".[1] Every spring in late April, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the site of the week-long annual spring wildflower pilgrimage [2] to celebrate this diversity. The park is also the site of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory [3] to inventory all the living organisms in the park. This article lists some of the Wildflowers of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, current threats and resources for further information.

Threats

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Plant Poaching

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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.[4]

Invasive Species

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Introduced forest pests, such as the hemlock woolly adelgid and emerald ash borer are a major threat to the flora of the national parks, targeting over-story species such as the eastern hemlock and ash trees.[5][6] Several invasive plant species such as wild garlic mustard, kudzu, and multiflora rose can also cause harm by out-competing and displacing native species from the park.[7] Feral hogs are another major invasive threat to the park, as they are habitat generalists that will eat just about anything, including the roots and foliage of the park's wildflowers.[8]

Pollution

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Within the Great Smoky Mountains, air pollution is a well documented threat to both the foliage of the park and its visitors, contributing to stream acidification, ozone symptoms on plants, and high haze levels.[9]

Examples

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Image Latin name Common names
Aquilegia Granny's Bonnet or Columbine
Asclepias exaltata Poke Milkweed
Asclepias hirtella Tall Green Milkweed or Prairie Milkweed
Asclepias quadrifolia Fourleaf Milkweed or Whorled Milkweed
Carex plantaginea Seersucker Sedge or Plaintainleaf Sedge
Caulophyllum thalictroides Blue Cohosh
Chamaelirium Blazing-Star, Devil's Bit, False Unicorn, Fairy Wand, or Helonias
Chelone lyonii Pink Turtleheads, Red Turtleheads, Lyon's Turtleheads, or Appalachian Turtleheads
Claytonia virginica Eastern Spring Beauty, Virginia Spring Beauty, or Fairy Spud
Clintonia alleghaniensis White Clintonia, Clinton's Lilly, or Speckled Wood Lily
Conopholis americana Squawroot
Corunastylis ciliata Small Purple-fringed Orchid or Fringed Midge Orchid
Cymophyllus fraserianus Fraser's Sedge
Cypripedioideae Yellow Lady Slippers
Cypripedium acaule Pink Lady Slippers
Delphinium tricorne Dwarf Larkspur
Dicentra canadensis Squirrel Corn
Dicentra cucullaria Dutchman's Breeches
Dicentra eximia Bleeding Heart
Diervilla sessilifolia Southern Bush Honeysuckle
Diphylleia cymosa Umbrella Leaf
Dodecatheon meadia Shooting Stars
Epigaea repens Mayflower or Trailing Arbutus
Euonymus obovatus Running Strawberry Bush
Hexastylis arifolia Little Brown Jug
Hexastylis virginica Virginia Heartleaf
Iris cristata Dwarf Crested Iris or Crested Iris
Lilium superbum Turk's Cap, Turban Lily, Swamp Lily, Lily Royal, or American Tiger Lily
Lobelia Cardinalis Red Cardinal Flower, Red Lobelia, Cardinal Lobelia, Slinkweed, Cardinal Flower, Scarlet Lobelia, Great Lobelia, or Indian Tobacco
Lycopus americanus Water Horehound
Maianthemum racemosum Treacleberry or Feathery False Lily of the Valley
Micranthes micranthidifolia Lettuceleaf Saxifrag, Branch Lettuce, or Brook Lettuce
Mitchella repens Partridge Berry or Squaw Vine
Monarda didyma Bee Balm
Monotropsis odorata Sweet Pinesap or Pygmy Pipes
Orchis Spectabilis Showy Orchis
Osmorhiza claytonii Clayton's Sweetroot
Oxalis montana Mountain Woodsorrel, Wood Shamrock, Sours, or White Woodsorrel
Panax quinquefolius American Ginseng
Penstemon canescens Eastern Gray Beardtongue
Phacelia bipinnatifida Fernleaf Phacelia or Spotted Phacelia
Phacelia fimbriata Fringed Phacelia
Phacelia purshii Miami Mist
Prosartes lanuginosa Yellow Mandarin or Yellow Fairybells
Prosartes maculata Yellow Mandarin, Spotted Mandarin, or Nodding Mandarin
Rhododendron calendulaceum Flame Azalea
Rugelia nudicaulis Rugel's Indian Plantain or Rugel's Ragwort
Sanicula smallii Small's Blacksnakeroot
Sedum Stonecrop
Stachys clingmanii Clingman's Hedgenettle
Synandra hispidula Guyandotte Beauty
Thalictrum dioicum Quicksilver-weed
Thalictrum thalictroides Rue Anemone
Trillium catesbaei Bashful Wake-robin or Rosy Wake-robin
Trillium luteum Yellow Wake-robin or Yellow Trillium
Trillium vaseyi Sweet Wake-robin or Sweet Beth
Viola appalachiensis Appalachian Blue Violet, Appalachian Violet, or Henry's Violet
Viola pedata Bird's-foot Violet, Bird's-foot Violet, or Mountain Pansy
Viola rotundifolia Roundleaf Yellow Violet
Xanthorhiza simplicissima Yellowroot

See also

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Resources

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  • 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

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  1. ^ "Wildflowers". Great Smoky Mountains National Park. January 27, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  2. ^ "Home". springwildflowerpilgrimage.org.
  3. ^ "All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) - Great Smoky Mountains National Park". Archived from the original on 2006-12-06. Retrieved 2006-11-19.
  4. ^ "Threats to Wildflowers - Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S. National Park Service)".
  5. ^ Abella, Scott (2014). "Impacts and Management of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in National Parks of the Eastern United States". Southeastern Naturalist. 13 (Special Issue 6): 16–45 – via Ebsco.
  6. ^ Poland, Therese; McCullough, Deborah (2006). "Emerald Ash Borer: Invasion of the Urban Forest and the Threat to North America's Ash Resource". Journal of Forestry. April/May (2006): 188–124.
  7. ^ "Non-native Invasive Plants". Great Smoky Mountains National Park. July 18, 2015. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  8. ^ "Non-native species". Great Smoky Mountains National Park. November 19, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  9. ^ Sullivan, Timothy (2017). Air pollution and its impact on U.S. national parks. Boca Raton: CRC Press. pp. 113–150. ISBN 9781498765183.
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Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildflowers_of_the_Great_Smoky_Mountains
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