Wildflowers of the Great Smoky Mountains
More than 1400 species of wildflowers are native to the Great Smoky Mountains. Every spring in late April Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the site of the week-long annual spring wildflower pilgrimage [1] to celebrate this diversity. The park is also the site of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory [2] to inventory all the living organisms in the park. This article lists some of these Wildflowers of the Great Smoky Mountains and references sites for further research.
Threats
Plant poaching is a major threat in the park. In particular, Ginseng is a popular target. Removal of specimens such as Trilliums and Orchids for private gardens is also threatening these populations [3]. The Hemlock woolly adelgid has destroyed most of the hemlocks within the park.
Air pollution is also injurious to native plant populations in the park.
Examples
| Image | Latin name | Common names |
|---|---|---|
 |
Aquilegia | Granny's bonnet or Columbine |
 |
Asclepias quadrifolia | Fourleaf milkweed or whorled milkweed |
| 100px | Carex plantaginea | seersucker sedge or plaintainleaf sedge |
| 100px | Caulophyllum thalictroides | Blue cohosh |
| 100px | Chamaelirium | Blazing-star, Devil's bit, False unicorn, Fairy wand, or Helonias |
| 100px | Claytonia virginica | Eastern spring beauty, Virginia spring beauty, or fairy spud |
| 100px | Clintonia alleghaniensis | White Clintonia, Clinton's Lilly, Speckled Wood Lily |
| 100px | Conopholis americana | Squawroot |
| 100px | Cymophyllus fraserianus | Fraser's sedge |
| 100px | Cypripedioideae | Yellow Lady Slippers |
| 100px | Delphinium tricorne | Dwarf larkspur |
| 100px | Dicentra canadensis | Squirrel Corn |
| 100px | Dicentra cucullaria | Dutchman's Breeches |
| 100px | Dicentra eximia | Bleeding heart |
| 100px | Diervilla sessilifolia | southern bush honeysuckle |
| 100px | Diphylleia cymosa | |
| 100px | Dodecatheon meadia | Shooting stars |
| 100px | Epigaea repens | mayflower or trailing arbutus |
| 100px | Lycopus americanus | Water horehound |
| 100px | Monarda didyma | Bee balm |
| 100px | Panax quinquefolius | American ginseng |
| 100px | Phacelia purshii | Miami mist |
| 100px | Sedum | Stonecrop |
| 100px | Trillium catesbaei | Bashful wakerobin or rosy wake-robin |
| 100px | Trillium luteum | Yellow wakerobin or yellow trillium |
| 100px | Trillium vaseyi | Sweet wakerobin or sweet beth |
See also
- Wildflowers of New England
- Wildflowers of the Canadian Rocky Mountains
- List of San Francisco Bay Area wildflowers
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Brandywine Wildflower and Native Plant Gardens
Resources
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers: When & Where to Find Them (Paperback)by Carlos C. Campbell, Aaron J. Sharp, Robert W. Hutson, William F. Hutson, Windy Pines Pub,(April 1996),ISBN 0-9643417-3-5
- Wildflowers Of Tennessee, The Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians (Paperback)by Dennis Horn and Tavia Cathcart, Lone Pine Publishing (2005), ISBN 1-55105-428-0
