#anemonoides

Anemone blanda / Grecian Windflower at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, NC

A sunny bank of wood anemones - Anemonoides nemorosa.

The best view on the Highland Scenic Highway belongs to a commanding rock promontory located at the end of an easy, two-mile hike on the High Rocks Trail, whose trailhead is accessible from the main road. Perched at 4,200 feet (1,280 meters) above sea level, just below of the summit of Black Mountain, the overlook offers expansive views of the Stamping Creek watershed and the Greenbrier River Valley beyond. On a clear day, you can see to the mountains in Virginia. In early May, the wildflower displays on this mountain are as breathtaking as the view from High Rocks. Wood anemone (Anemonoides quinquefolia) and star chickweed (Stellaria pubera) carpet-bomb the forest floor on either side of the trail, turning it nearly white in places. Also of note, the great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) at this elevation takes on a rosy pink hue that looks quite stunning in the soft spring sun. This mountain is also home to one of the rarest and most beautiful wildflowers in North America, American lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majuscula), whose native range is restricted to a narrow strip of the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania south to North Carolina. These plants grow in dense clumps near and along the rock outcrops of High Rocks (second and third photos from the bottom). On Saturday, they were getting ready to bloom - hope to catch them in full display in a couple weeks.

Anemone blanda / Grecian Windflower at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University in Durham, NC

At about 1200 feet above the Monongahela River, spring is finally catching up on Chestnut Ridge. Temperatures today climbed into the mid-fifties after an extended cold spell, and the streams in Coopers Rock State Forest were running full after recent rains. In another week, the forest floor will be unrecognizable from the onslaught of spring ephemerals. A few of the wildflowers making an early push (top to bottom):  wood anemone (Anemonoides quinquefolia), also known as nightcaps and windflower; broadleaf toothwort ( Cardamine diphylla), also known as crinkle root and pepper root; heartleaf foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia); twoleaf miterwort (Mitella diphylla), also known as bishop’s cap; halberd-leaved yellow violet (Viola hastata); and long-spurred violet (Viola rostrata).

Ranuncolo favagello (Ranunculus ficaria L.) Anemonoides ranunculoides (L.)