Aug 3 Lilies, Cheetos and Chiggers, the Legacy of Eastwood Preserve

 

Lilium pyrophilum, the fire loving lily, otherwise known as the Sandhill Lily. Its range is a narrow strip of sandy bogs along the fall line separating the piedmont from the coastal plane in NC, SC and a possible population recently reported in Georgia. Reports of populations in VA are questionable. It has not been known to science for very long. Beginning in the 1950s, botanists from UNC Chapel Hill were confused by it but they lacked the ability to fully define it. Bruce Sorrie, after moving to NC in the 1990s was tasked with inventorying the flora of Fort Bragg, now Fort Liberty. Jay Carter alerted him to be on the lookout for the lily the UNC group had reported back in the 1950s. Sorrie teamed up with Mark Skinner, a lily specialist, and fully documented the species in 2002. Today I got to see several of the lilies in bloom at Eastwood Preserve after trampling through chigger infested terrain. This one above is quite brilliantly at its peak. 

There was a very nice community of these yellow or orange fringed orchids in a boggy area. I was told a white fringed orchid was on a nearby property. It was described as the whitest white can be. 

Bog Cheetos, more commonly known as Yellow milkwort and more formally known as Polygala lutea grow close to the ground often hidden in tall grass. Why is it Yellow milkwort and not Orange milkwort? Lutea is Latin for yellow. Why not Polygala aurantiacus (Latin for orange)? Well, the species was dug up in America and shipped to Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish scientist credited with establishing the binomial system of naming and classifying all living things. So, Linnaeus received the species months after it had been dug and it had turned from brilliant orange to yellow. Hence, we still call it lutea. I'm sticking with bog cheetos. 

Meadow Beauties

Orangegrass but looks yellow to me

Summersweet or Sweet pepperbush. The flower has a sweet fragrance and blooms in the summer. The mature fruit resembles a peppercorn but does not taste spicy. The peppercorns we use as a seasoning come from a vine that is native to India but now grown in tropical areas around the world. 

I think this is White camas or Death camas. That sounds like you would not want to eat it.

Blazing Star. Which one?

Beaked pencilflower. I've heard it is called pencilflower because its color resembles a #2 pencil's color or a school bus.

Jeff Marcus of the Nature Conservancy gives introductions. Jeff lives on the preserve so he knows this place like his backyard. 

My souvenir from today's hike. If chiggers have a redeeming feature I don't know what it is.