You wouldn’t expect tallgrass prairies in Georgia, but last weekend found Georgia Botanical Society members roaming around in such habitats near Cave Spring in Floyd County.
More than two dozen of these so-called “remnant prairies,” collectively known as the Coosa Valley prairies, occur in Floyd in northwest Georgia. Characterized by clayey, calcium-rich soil that discourages tree growth, the prairies are said to be the state’s rarest natural habitats.
“Many of the plants that grow here are characteristic of the tallgrass prairies of the Great Plains,” explained botanist Richard Ware of Rome as we set out to explore the habitats.
Indeed, native tallgrass prairie grasses such as big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass and switchgrass thrive in the Coosa Valley prairies. In addition, prairie dock, a large plant with “elephant ear” leaves and yellow flowers that bloom in August, grows thickly there. If you find naturally occurring patches of prairie dock, as we did last weekend, you likely have discovered a prairie site, Ware said.
The Coosa Valley prairies also harbor 41 rare and endangered animals and plants, including the whorled sunflower, thought to have gone extinct 100 years ago but rediscovered by Ware in 1994. The Coosa prairies are one of only four natural areas in the Southeast that harbor the plant.
Because of the Coosa prairies’ botanical importance, their original owner, Temple-Inland Inc., donated a 929-acre conservation easement to the Nature Conservancy in 2002. The easement protects the most botanically significant prairies.
The Coosa prairies’ overall diversity is amazing, as we found last weekend. We encountered a rich array of late spring and early summer wildflowers in bloom -- a lush garden, it seemed.
Among the more than two dozen blooming plants were yellow-flowered prairie coneflower and woodland coreopsis; orange-flowered butterfly weed; blue-flowered scaly blazing star and Carolina wild petunia; pink-colored prairie rose and eastern rose-mallow.
Also, white-flowered toothed whitetop aster, wild sweet potato and Queen Anne’s lace; lavender-flowered stiff-leaved aster and winged loosestrife; and Mohr's Barbara's buttons, a threatened species. (The Coosa Valley prairies were discovered in the early 1990s by botanist Jim Allison while he was looking for Mohr’s Barbara’s buttons.)
However, our most breathtaking sight last weekend was a meadow of some six acres covered with prairie purple coneflowers (Echinacea simulata), cousins of the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) that graces some Georgia license plates. I have rarely seen a more stunning natural wildflower display in Georgia.
In the sky: The moon will be last quarter Monday, rising about midnight and setting around midday, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Mercury is low in the west at dusk. Mars is high in the south just after dark and sets in the west after midnight. Jupiter is low in the east just before sunrise. Saturn is high in the east at dark and is visible throughout most of the night.
