#narrowleaf gentian

[vandaliatraveler]

Photos from a lovely, post-Debby weekend in the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Good, strong breeze to drive out the heat and keep the sky vibrant and constantly on the move. The narrow-leaved gentian (Gentiana linearis) is now at peak bloom in the mountains. This enchanting perennial loves damp mountain seeps and bog edges and is pollinated primarily by bumblebees, which are adept at prying open the flowers or just chewing through them if all else fails. The pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) is also in bloom - my mom used these delicate perennials in her dried-flower arrangements.

[wildflowers-of-southern-ontario]

Narrowleaf Gentian Gentiana linearis Gentianaceae Family

Photograph taken on July 31, 2020, at Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada.

[vandaliatraveler]

Late afternoon at the balsam fir swamp in Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

From top: nodding bur-marigold (Bidens cernua), also sometimes referred to as nodding beggarticks, a clumping, wetlands-loving annual whose flowerheads nod as they mature and get heavier; bushy St. John's wort (Hypericum densiflorum), a gorgeous, densely-packed shrub with vibrant yellow flowers and copper-colored bark; white meadowsweet (Spiraea alba), a rapidly-colonizing shrub whose branching clusters of white flowers are one of summer's most generous gifts; narrow-leaved gentian (Gentiana linearis), a tall, elegant bottle gentian that can only be pollinated by bumblebees strong enough to pry open (or chew through) its closed petals; flat-topped white aster (Doellingeria umbellata), also known as parasol whitetop, a tall, attractive mountain aster with flat, branching clusters of white flowers; and the dainty white flowers of virgin's bower (Clematis virginiana), a vigorous, twining vine that forms beautiful, dense waves of foliage and flowers.

[vandaliatraveler]

Not so long ago, the land encompassed by the Little Canaan Wildlife Management Area, which adjoins the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, was a timbered-out, burned-over wasteland. Today, the WMA is in full-scale recovery and provides a home to a diverse collection of wildlife, including black bears, fishers, porcupines, northern goshawks, ruffed grouse, and saw-whet owls. 

[vandaliatraveler]

Blinded by the green (redux): Blackwater Canyon, Panel 1.

[vandaliatraveler]

Post 2 of 2: Above are a few more photos highlighting the seasonal treasures of the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area. Although the extended heat and drought of September have delayed or muted the colors of the plains, the heath thickets (a mixture of huckleberry and blueberry) were starting to get their burnished sheen this past weekend. A few wildflowers - among them narrowleaf gentian (Gentiana linearis) and flat-topped white aster (Doellingeria umbellata) - were still in bloom, but most had gone to seed. Closer to Dobbins Slashings in Dolly Sods North, beavers were building a dam in the middle of a trail; the quaking aspen nearby shivered in the wind and dropped gold-plated leaves on the pond’s surface.  

[vandaliatraveler]

One of the state’s newest reserves, Little Canaan Wildlife Management Area is still recovering from heavy logging during the last century and was under threat of vacation home development for a time (if you want to know how completely the natural beauty of a place can be obliterated by second homers from DC, then visit Deep Creek, Maryland). The WMA abuts Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge and provides upland habitat to compliment the refuge’s wetlands. There’s a lovely cranberry bog adjacent to one of Little Canaan’s winding trails; it was brimming with cotton grass, narrowleaf gentian, and plump cranberry fruits starting to ripen.

[vandaliatraveler]

Above are a few late season gems from my trip up the Highland Scenic Highway (top to bottom): (1) a marshy area along the Cowpasture Trail at Cranberry Glades; (2) the ever-gorgeous purplestem aster (Symphyotrichum puniceum), also known as swamp aster; (3 - 4) a lavender-phased variation of narrowleaf gentian (Gentiana linearis), perhaps the loveliest and most delicate of all the autumn wildflowers in these mountains; (5 - 6) the more broadly-leaved closed bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii), quite striking in its own right; (7) red-belted conk (Fomitopsis pinicola), a shelf fungus parasitic on conifers; the brilliant red “haws” (berries) of dotted hawthorn (Crataegus punctata), which are edible and have a tangy-sweet flavor; a grandly-beautiful field thistle (Cirsium discolor) gone to seed; and the ripe, tart berries of large cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), the only healthy thing I snacked on all day (the wild berries are a hundred times more pucker-worthy than the commercially-grown ones).

[vandaliatraveler]

Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Part 3. Canaan Valley is the highest mountain valley of its size east of the Mississippi River and hosts the largest wetlands complex in the Central and Southern Appalachians. Most of these wetlands are now protected by Canaan Valley State Resort Park and Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The Freeland Boardwalk Trail in the refuge is an ideal place to get an up-close experience with one of the wetland types - a balsam fir swamp. A half-mile long, raised boardwalk with wildlife viewing platforms winds through the swamp, allowing visitors to interact with the wildlife and plants without damaging the fragile ecosystem.

From top: Bur marigold (Bidens laevis), also known as smooth beggartick, a wetlands-loving beauty that produces a profusion of golden flowerheads; bog goldenrod (Solidago uliginosa), another wetlands native with a bright red stem and closely-packed flowers on a plume-like inflorescence; the bright blue berries of arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum); the ripening berries of American black elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), also known as American black elder; white meadowsweet (Spiraea alba), a native spirea of Appalachia’s wetlands that draws hordes of pollinators with its beautiful spikes of white flowers; grass-leaved goldenrod (Euthamia graminifolia), also known as flat-top goldentop, not a true Solidago, but even more beautiful with its flat panicles of golden-yellow flowers and graceful foliage; and an industrious bumblebee prying open the closed petals of a narrowleaf gentian (Gentiana linearis) to get at the nectar pot below.