Wildflowers of the Great Smoky Mountains facts for kids
The Great Smoky Mountains are a super special place, especially if you love flowers! More than 1,400 different kinds of wildflowers grow naturally here. Imagine that – a huge natural garden! Every spring, usually in late April, people celebrate these amazing flowers during a week-long event called the "Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage."
The park is also home to a huge project called the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory. Scientists and volunteers are working to find and list every single living thing in the park, from tiny bugs to giant trees and, of course, all the beautiful wildflowers. This article will show you some of these incredible plants and tell you where to find more information.
Contents
Protecting Our Wildflowers
Even in a big national park, wildflowers can face dangers. It's really important to protect them so they can keep growing for everyone to enjoy.
Plant Poaching
One big problem is plant poaching. This means people illegally take plants from the park. For example, a plant called ginseng is often targeted because it's valuable. Other beautiful plants like trilliums and orchids are sometimes taken for private gardens. When plants are removed, it hurts the natural balance and makes it harder for those plants to survive in the wild.
Tiny Invaders
Tiny insects can also cause big problems for plants. The hemlock woolly adelgid is a tiny bug that has sadly destroyed most of the hemlock trees in the park. Another insect, the Emerald ash borer, is also causing a lot of damage to native ash trees. These bugs are like tiny enemies that attack and harm the trees.
Air Pollution
The air we breathe can also affect plants. Air pollution can hurt the native plant populations in the park, making it harder for them to grow healthy and strong. Keeping our air clean helps protect these precious wildflowers.
Amazing Wildflowers of the Smokies
Let's meet some of the cool wildflowers you might find in the Great Smoky Mountains!
Columbine
The Aquilegia, often called Granny's Bonnet or Columbine, is a really pretty flower with unique spurs that look like a bonnet. It's a favorite for hummingbirds!
Fourleaf Milkweed
Asclepias quadrifolia, or Fourleaf Milkweed, is a special plant. Like other milkweeds, it's super important for Monarch butterfly caterpillars, which only eat milkweed leaves.
Spring Beauty
Claytonia virginica, known as Eastern Spring Beauty or Virginia Spring Beauty, is one of the first wildflowers to bloom in spring. Its delicate white or pink flowers are a welcome sight after winter.
Dutchman's Breeches
Dicentra cucullaria is called Dutchman's Breeches because its flowers look exactly like tiny, puffy pants hanging upside down! It's a fun and unique flower to spot.
Yellow Lady Slippers
Cypripedioideae, or Yellow Lady Slippers, are a type of orchid. They have a pouch-like petal that looks like a slipper. Orchids are often rare and very special.
Dwarf Crested Iris
The Iris cristata, or Dwarf Crested Iris, is a beautiful small iris with lovely blue-purple flowers. It often grows in large patches on the forest floor.
Bee Balm
Monarda didyma, also known as Bee Balm, has bright red, shaggy flowers. It's a magnet for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, who love its nectar.
American Ginseng
Panax quinquefolius, or American Ginseng, is a plant known for its root, which has been used in traditional medicine for a long time. This is why it's often targeted by poachers.
Flame Azalea
Rhododendron calendulaceum, or Flame Azalea, puts on a spectacular show with its bright orange, yellow, and red flowers. It truly looks like flames bursting in the forest!
Trilliums
Trilliums are some of the most famous wildflowers in the Smokies. They get their name from the Latin word "tri," meaning three, because they have three petals, three sepals, and leaves in groups of three. There are many different kinds, like the Yellow Trillium (Trillium luteum) and the Sweet Wakerobin (Trillium vaseyi).
Want to Learn More?
If you want to dive deeper into the world of Great Smoky Mountains wildflowers, check out these cool books!
- 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
Images for kids
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Seersucker sedge
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Blue cohosh
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False unicorn
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White Clintonia
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Squawroot
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Fraser's sedge
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Dwarf larkspur
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Squirrel Corn
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Bleeding heart
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Southern bush honeysuckle
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Umbrella-leaf
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Shooting stars
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Trailing arbutus
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Running strawberry bush
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Little brown jug
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Virginia heartleaf
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Water horehound
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Feathery false lily of the valley
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Brook lettuce
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Partridge berry
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Sweet pinesap
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Clayton's sweetroot
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Mountain woodsorrel
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Eastern gray beardtongue
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Fernleaf phacelia
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Fringed phacelia
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Miami mist
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Yellow fairybells
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Spotted mandarin
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Rugel's Indian plantain
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Small's blacksnakeroot
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Stonecrop
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Clingman's hedgenettle
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Guyandotte beauty
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Quicksilver-weed
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Rue anemone
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Bashful wakerobin
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Sweet wakerobin
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Birdsfoot violet
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Roundleaf yellow violet
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Yellowroot
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