Tag Archives: Piedmont

A Few More Orchids

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A week before the pilgrimage to find large whorled pogonia, I’d found a few nice stands of showy orchis. It’s fairly common in dry-to-moist woodlands of the Maryland Piedmont, but it’s on the RTE lists of Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island. I noticed while doing a quick web search that the name “orchis” (with the “s”) isn’t used often anymore; now it’s called “showy orchid”. This species used to be known as Orchis spectabilis, but recent taxonomic changes now have it as Galearis spectabilis. The common name “showy orchis” is just a translation of the old Latin name. You’ll find it under that name in older wildflower guides.

At any rate, this one grows just two thick, wide leaves at ground level, then sends up a single shoot bearing a dozen or more purple and white flowers. All-white forms are also known, but uncommon.

Also blooming about now is Cypripedium acaule. Like showy orchis, this plant produces two basal leaves, though they stand more upright; however, there’s only a single spectacular flower per plant. Pink lady’s slipper (aka moccasin flower) is fairly common (for an orchid) in moist woodlands throughout its range, but is listed in Georgia, New York, Illinois, and Tennessee. I’ve found it on acidic soils, near Vaccinium and other species in the Ericaceae.

A few days ago I ventured out again (more about that soon), and unexpectedly found a single specimen of yet another orchid, Aplectrum hyemale. Putty root, also known as Adam and Eve, is hibernal: each plant produces one leaf in the autumn that persists through the winter and into spring, then dies before the plant sends up a single shoot that bears about 15 flowers. According to the Go Orchids site, putty root seems to be found near sugar maple and beech trees. I’ve only seen it in deep shade, which makes it difficult to photograph.

Most (or perhaps all) terrestrial orchids in our area require complex associations with soil fungi in order to live, which is one reason why they aren’t widespread. As a result, orchids poached from wild areas usually die within a year of being transplanted.

further reading about orchids and mycorrhizal fungi:
Orchids and Their Mycorrhizal Fungi
Mycorrhizal fungi affect orchid distribution and population dynamics
Orchids Are as Finicky as the Fungi That Nourish Them

The Physiographic Provinces of Maryland

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We haven’t had a hard freeze here in the Piedmont yet this season, but what with the drought and cooler weather and shorter days, the wildflowers are just about done for the season. Normally this is when I put my blog to bed for the winter, but this season I’m going to try to keep it going by writing about related subjects. And it occurred to me that I mention the Piedmont a lot, but have never really explained what the Piedmont is. So here’s a little primer.

Maryland is a complicated state, geologically speaking. From west to east, it measures about 250 miles, and includes five physiographic provinces. (A “physiographic province” is an area of similar landforms.) The combination of underlying rock formations, elevation, and climate gives each province its own character.

The westernmost of these is the Appalachian Plateau, in Garret County and the western quarter of Allegany County. It consists of folded strata of sedimentary rocks. Maryland’s highest point is here: 3,360 feet at Backbone Mountain.

To the east of that is the Ridge and Valley province, in Allegany and Washington Counties. It also consists of folded sedimentary rock. Here, though, differing resistance to erosion has allowed the formation of long ridges and valleys, including the very wide Great Valley section, which ends on the east with the next province, the narrow Blue Ridge in the easternmost part of Washington County and the western third of Frederick County. The Blue Ridge is one big anticline (with sub-folds) of metamorphic rock. The mountain tops are largely quartzite, highly resistant to erosion.

Continuing east, the next province is the Piedmont, an area of hills and valleys underlain by complex folds and domes of metamorphic and some igneous rock. The Piedmont is in Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Howard, Baltimore, Harford, and Cecil Counties.

The Piedmont is bounded to the east by the Fall Line, where the metamorphic rock gives way to the unconsolidated sediments of the Coastal Plain. That’s right, the Coastal Plain isn’t really rock, it’s just sand and gravel that’s been carried downstream and deposited. In Ocean City the sediment layer is 8,000 feet thick!

Fall lines define geological boundaries between uplands and lowlands, and are characterized by waterfalls. Sometimes the areas will be referred to as fall zones, when the transition is not as dramatic and more likely to be characterized by rapids than waterfalls. Think of Great Falls, which is not a single plunge over a cliff, but rather a series of falls (none more than 20 feet tall) totaling a 76 foot drop in elevation over two thirds of a mile.

Historically, seagoing vessels could travel no farther west than the fall zone, and that’s why cities were established there: Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, Washington DC, Richmond, Raleigh, and so on. Interstate 95 runs mostly just to the east of the fall zone.

Botanically, the Piedmont (“foot of the mountain”) is a really neat place. Plants don’t always recognize physiographic province boundaries. Some species are very particular in their growing conditions and will only be found in specific places, while others are generalists and can be found everywhere. In the eastern Piedmont you’ll sometimes find plants that are mostly limited to the Coastal Plain, and in the western Piedmont you’ll sometimes find plants from the Blue Ridge. There’s a lot of floral diversity in the Piedmont.

Table Mountain Pine

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aka hickory pine, prickly pine,
mountain pine, squirrel pine
Pinus pungens
Pinaceae

The table mountain pine is endemic to the Appalachian Mountains, where it’s found mostly in the Ridge and Valley and Blue Ridge physiographic provinces. In Maryland, that includes Frederick, Washington, and Allegany Counties, though there are no records of table mountain pine in Washington County.

This specimen was found at White Rocks in the Sugarloaf Mountain Natural Area, which is actually in the Piedmont province, though at the westernmost part, right at the edge of the Blue Ridge province.

Table mountain pine grows slowly, with a rather crooked, many-branched habit, and is often flat-topped. It rarely grows taller than 60 feet, although the tallest on record was 94 feet. It prefers exposed, rocky sites (like White Rocks) where there’s little competition from other trees. The seedlings actually take root in rock crevices.

Identifying it is fairly easy, as there aren’t too many pine species in Maryland. The fact that it’s 2-needled and has spiny cones helps, along with noting the habitat. More on pine identification (and an explanation of “2-needled”) in a future post.

I was wondering about how it got the name “table mountain pine”, since sometimes it’s written with capital letters: Table mountain pine or Table Mountain pine. Was it named for a specific place? The internets gave the following answers:

“Pinus pungens is named for generic Appalachian mountain forms, not a specific mountain, and so the common name should not be capitalized as a proper noun.” (University of Georgia)

“This tree was first collected around 1794 near Tablerock Mountain in Burke County, North Carolina, hence the common name `Table Mountain pine’.” (North Carolina State University)

So who knows? Though the second source sounds authoritative.

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