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Wildflowers of the Great Smoky Mountains facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

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 to celebrate this diversity. The park is also the site of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory 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. The hemlock woolly adelgid has destroyed most of the hemlocks within the park. The Emerald ash borer is also very destructive of native tree species.

Air pollution is also injurious to native plant populations in the park.

Examples

Image Latin name Common names
Columbine.jpg Aquilegia Granny's bonnet or Columbine
Asclepias quadrifolia 001.jpg Asclepias quadrifolia Fourleaf milkweed or whorled milkweed
Carexplantaginea.jpg Carex plantaginea seersucker sedge or plaintainleaf sedge
Rugles ragwort.jpg Caulophyllum thalictroides Blue cohosh
Chamaelirium luteum - false unicorn - desc-flowering heads closed.jpg Chamaelirium Blazing-star, Devil's bit, False unicorn, Fairy wand, or Helonias
Spring beauty.jpg Claytonia virginica Eastern spring beauty, Virginia spring beauty, or fairy spud
White clintonia.jpg Clintonia alleghaniensis White Clintonia, Clinton's Lilly, Speckled Wood Lily
Squawroot.jpg Conopholis americana Squawroot
Frasierssedge.JPG Cymophyllus fraserianus Fraser's sedge
Yellow lady slippers Great Smoky Mountains NP.jpg Cypripedioideae Yellow Lady Slippers
Delphinium tricorne Kentucky.jpg Delphinium tricorne Dwarf larkspur
Dicentra canadensis.jpg Dicentra canadensis Squirrel Corn
Dicentra cucullaria.JPG Dicentra cucullaria Dutchman's Breeches
Dicentra eximia3.jpg Dicentra eximia Bleeding heart
Diervilla-sessilifolia.JPG Diervilla sessilifolia southern bush honeysuckle
Umbrella-leaf.jpg Diphylleia cymosa
Shootingstars.jpg Dodecatheon meadia Shooting stars
Trailing arbutus 2006.jpg Epigaea repens mayflower or trailing arbutus
Euonymus obovatus.jpg Euonymus obovatus Running strawberry bush
Hexastylis arifolia1.jpg Hexastylis arifolia little brown jug
Hexastylis virginica williamsburg.jpg Hexastylis virginica Virginia heartleaf
Iris cristata.jpg Iris cristata Dwarf Crested Iris or Crested Iris
Lycopus americanus 01.jpg Lycopus americanus Water horehound
Maianthemum racemosum 4930.JPG Maianthemum racemosum Treacleberry or feathery false lily of the valley
Brooklettuce.jpg Micranthes micranthidifolia Lettuceleaf saxifrag, branch lettuce, or brook lettuce
Mitchella.repens01.jpg Mitchella repens Partridge berry or squaw vine
Bee Balm.jpg Monarda didyma Bee balm
Monotropsis odorata.jpg Monotropsis odorata Sweet pinesap or pygmy pipes
Osmoriza claytonii.jpg Osmorhiza claytonii Clayton's sweetroot
Oxalis montana.jpg Oxalis montana mountain woodsorrel, wood shamrock, sours, white woodsorrel
American ginseng.jpg Panax quinquefolius American ginseng
Penstemons canescens.jpg Penstemon canescens Eastern gray beardtongue
Phacelia bipinnatifida.jpg Phacelia bipinnatifida Fernleaf phacelia, or spotted phacelia
Phacelia fimbriata.jpg Phacelia fimbriata Fringed phacelia
Phacelia purshii.jpg Phacelia purshii Miami mist
Yellow Fairybells (4751215894).jpg Prosartes lanuginosa Yellow mandarin, or yellow fairybells
Prosartes maculata flower 002.jpg Prosartes maculata yellow mandarin, spotted mandarin, or nodding mandarin
Rhododendron calendulaceum.jpg Rhododendron calendulaceum Flame azalea
RugelsRagwort.jpg Rugelia nudicaulis Rugel's Indian plantain or Rugels ragwort
Sanicula smallii.jpg Sanicula smallii Small's blacksnakeroot
Stonecrop.jpg Sedum Stonecrop
StachysClingmannii.jpg Stachys clingmanii Clingman's hedgenettle
Synandra.jpg Synandra hispidula Guyandotte beauty
Thalictrum dioicum.jpg Thalictrum dioicum Quicksilver-weed
Rue Anemone Thalictrum thalictroides Flower 2479px.jpg Thalictrum thalictroides Rue anemone
Trillium catesbaei.jpg Trillium catesbaei Bashful wakerobin or rosy wake-robin
Trillium luteum 2.jpg Trillium luteum Yellow wakerobin or yellow trillium
Trillium vaseyi, The Sugarlands, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee - 20070326.jpg Trillium vaseyi Sweet wakerobin or sweet beth
Viola appalachiensis Appalachian blue violet, Appalachian violet, or Henry's violet
Viola pedata.jpg Viola pedata Birdsfoot violet, bird's-foot violet, or mountain pansy
Round-leaf Yellow Violet (4506716756).jpg Viola rotundifolia roundleaf yellow violet
Yellowroot- Xanthorhiza simplicissima.JPG Xanthorhiza simplicissima Yellowroot

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
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