Mountain Wildflowers

CURRENT Mountain Wildflowers

Oxeye Daisy. Credit Joe Cook and Monica Sheppard

July’s Mountain Wildflower: Oxeye Daisy

The oxeye daisy is a member of the composite family, which American naturalist Roger Tory Peterson believed to be the most recent one to make its appearance on Earth. 
Mountain Laurel. Credit Leonard M. Adkins

June’s Mountain Wildflower: Mountain Laurel

If you are out in the fall, stop to examine the small capsules on the mountain laurel; these were once the plant’s flowers in May, June, and July.
Mayapple. Credit Joe Cook and Monica Sheppard

May’s Mountain Wildflower: Mayapple

Despite its name, the fruit, which looks more like a yellowish-green, egg-shaped berry than an apple, usually does not begin to develop until early to mid-summer.
Trout Lilly. Credit Joe Cook and Monica Sheppard

April’s Mountain Wildflower: Trout Lily

Like its western relative the glacier lily (Erythronium grandiflorum), trout lily (Erythronium americanum) is often found pushing its way through a blanket of snow in early spring.
e1b70596-05c8-11f1-92e0-1248ae80e59d-3-2026rueanemone--credit-Joe-Cook

March’s Mountain Wildflower: Rue Anemone

A member of the buttercup family and found in the open woodlands, rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) has long, thin stems that tremble in the slightest of winds—prompting its other common name, windflower.

Departments

At Coopers Rock State Forest, new Stargazer cabins invite guests to look up through skylights and telescopes.
Country Roads

Even Closer to Almost Heaven

New Stargazer cabins at Coopers Rock State Forest offer a skyward escape in the mountains of West Virginia.

©Duncan Seaman
Country Roads

A Mountain Tradition Turns 90 

Visitors flock to Galax, Virginia, each summer for the Old Fiddlers’ Convention, a days-long celebration of Appalachian music.

Synchronous Fireflies
Creature Feature

The Light Fantastic

Fireflies are struggling with the effects of artificial light.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS