This Week's Mystery Plant

Sometimes when you go into a forest, you see flowers. Sometimes you see snakes. Sometimes you see both.

This past Tuesday during a fieldtrip in Lancaster County, I saw a canebrake rattlesnake-- a big one, about four feet long. He (she?) was a beautiful animal, very impressive, all stretched out quietly in the sun. It ignored us for as long as possible, and eventually started rattling, the sound like a high-pitched buzz, something like cicadas very close up, even after it crawled off into the woods and disappeared, allowing us to drive past. Unforgettable! (To see a jpg image, email me at nelson@sc.edu.) Now, a number of snake species are declining in the Southeast, due in part to indiscriminate killing. Of course, some species are venomous and therefore dangerous, but all snakes should be respected as natural parts of our landscape, and left alone in the wild.

The rest of the field trip was snake-less, and was devoted to an incredible display of native plant species, all at Flat Creek Heritage Preserve. The species featured here is a resident of shady, cool, damp slopes, often in rocky woods near creeks. The plants commonly form clumps, and sometimes they produce runners. All the leaves are basal, and coarsely toothed, resembling a maple's. Flower stalks arise about a foot or so, forming prominent wand-like racemes with star-like white blooms, each with five showy sepals and petals. Ten stamens will be found in each flower. After blooming, each flower will form an asymmetric capsule. This plant occurs from eastern Canada to Wisconsin, and then down the Appalachians into the Deep South, in the piedmont as well as the mountains. (It has several close relatives in the western USA, and one or two in Asia.) Our Mystery Plant is a big hit with gardeners, because it adapts well in shady, damp situations.

For information on Flat Creek Heritage Preserve, call 803-734-3920. It is open to the public, and features a number of hiking trails. (Wherever you might be planning a field trip, remember not to pick the wildflowers, and to leave all the snakes alone. After all, it's their house.) (Photo by Ann Darr.)

Photo by Ann Darr