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to especially dry, wet, or windy places found of ecology as a sea-level trip to the North FORESTS (J them too. In combination, these factors Country. The Spruce-Fir Nature Trail, FORESTS located along the Clingmans Dome Road, will now make Great Smoky Mountains National c WILDFLOWERS Park an exceedingly important botanical introduce you to this forest type, as will - c in Great Smoky Mountains National Park preserve. the road itself or a hike on the Appalachian <D AND "O O Trail through most of the eastern half of TJ O In the Great Smoky Mountains, time and Because of events in the recent past, the the park. £Z (L events have combined to create a botanical park also offers another kind of variety— WILDFlCNvERS CO showcase that for sheer variety is the contrast between virgin forest and second Aside from elevation, there 3 matched at few other locations in the world. growth. By the time the park was are other factors that determine O r3 established in the 1930s, the area it covers forest types . < had been occupied by about 6,000 different IL landowners and its forest had been 60% The Hemlock Forest dominates E logged over. Yet it still contained the along streams and on moist, shady iZ most extensive virgin forest left in the East. slopes up to about 4000 feet in The annual Great Smoky Mountains Protection of that great remnant of primeval elevation. Scattered hemlocks Wildflower Pilgrimmage, scheduled the last America guaranteed that visitors would can also be seen in drier locations weekend in April, is usually well timed to be able to see the variations in size and at low-to-mid elevations. take advantage of the most prolific blooming. species present in regrowth and recovery. In several areas, huge old Do not pick wildflowers or remove, disturb, hemlocks cover slopes and coves or destroy any plant. Forest and wildflowers This folder is intended to help you under­ left untouched by loggers. stand and appreciate what may at first in Great Smoky Mountains National Park To see large hemlocks in abundance, seem to be a confusing variety of plants. In are protected by law. walk the trails leading toward Grotto Falls the process of creating order out of from the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail or confusion, you should first know that there _l Alum Cave Bluffs from the Newfound are different types of forests and short c SHRUBS IN BLOOM Gap Road. self-guiding trails will introduce you to those c More than any other wildflower displays, it is 3 the mid-June blooming of rhododendron, that occur here. Wildflowers can be identified Pine and Oak Forests o J> mountain-laurel, and azaleas that attracts with books, or on wildflower hikes and Oaks and pines tolerate the park's com­ programs sponsored by the park. Bulletin visitors to the high country of the Southern paratively dry, exposed slopes and ridges WILDFLOWERS Appalachians. These plants, together with boards carry listings of these activities. In response to warm sunshine and frequent better than most other tree species and, sand myrtle, blueberries, sourwood, and rains, some 200 species of wildflowers therefore, are predominant in these sites. The several others are members of a plant bloom across the Smokies in a procession FORESTS drier the conditions, the more open the grouping known as heaths. Over 1500 canopy appears and the greater the that begins in March at lowest elevations Great Smoky Mountains Forest types are determined by elevation, species of heaths are found in temperate o abundance of pine, making it possible to and ends when autumn arrives on the high National Park moisture (or dryness), and exposure. regions of the world, but only in Asia do their ridges. Springtime in the Smokies is known divide oak and pine woods into "closed oak floral displays match those found in the as the season for wildflowers—and properly The Cove Hardwoods Forest exists at low- forests" and "open oak and pine forests". Southern Appalachians. to-mid elevations (to 4500 feet). In the few Besides pine and oak, both of these forest so—but the park is not without flowers CO types also contain hickories, yellow at other seasons. places missed by loggers, this forest type has These blossoming shrubs (only a few are Here, over 100 species of trees and 1,300 poplar, dogwood and dense thickets of huge trees of many varieties, most of them trees) can be found almost anywhere in the kinds of flowering plants, including rhododendron and mountain laurel. The Wildflowers in the park include both native broadleafed—that is, they grow leaves, Smokies, but it is on the peaks and ridges that both northern and southern types, meet and Pine-Oak Nature Trail in Cades Cove and exotic (non-native) species. Generally not needles. Trees of record or near-record they excell. Catawba or rose-purple thrive, each finding the growing con­ introduces this forest, which is characteristic the native species are woodland flowers size are common. For a sampling of this rhododendron, with its large flower clusters, ditions it needs. Through the seasons, this of the slopes of low and middle elevations and the introduced species are field- forest type, visit the Cove Hardwoods Nature grows best there, and on those infrequent, varied plantlife presents a constantly throughout the park. and-roadside flowers. Among the native Trail, located along the Newfound Gap Road unexplained forest openings known as balds, changing visual display, creating a situation wildflowers, there are both common and at the Chimneys Picnic Area. A folder, it keeps company with masses of flame filled with endless opportunities for uncommon species. And there are species available there, introduces the forest. Near In each of these forest types there are many azalea and mountain-laurel. To see the interest and enjoyment. Spring is the time that grow only at certain elevations. Of the the Cosby entrance to the park, the species of trees. Nature draws few firm lines, catawba rhododendron in bloom, visit the for budding and blossoming, summer for introduced species, few are better known Albright Grove contains an especially so botanists must be content to name the balds in June. Rosebay or white growth and maturity, autumn for seeding, and than dandelions, day lilies, and honeysuckle. beautiful cove forest. The Greenbrier en­ forest types for the species that dominate rhododendron, the species that is by far the winter for dormancy. Each season offers trance provides access to the cove forests when the forest is in a "climax" or most common, can be seen close up along visitors a unique set of experiences. Here are some recommended dates to along the Ramsey Cascades and Porters constant-species stage. In general, the the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, the see wildflowers: Flat trails. number of different species here decreases Newfound Gap Road, the entrance to the Important to the variety of the forests and Dogwood & redbud mid-to-late April with increasing harshness of growing Alum Cave Bluffs Trail, and the Round wildflowers here is the fact that the Spring flowers late March to mid-May The Northern Hardwoods Forest is also made conditions, just as it does as you progress Bottom Road. Late June and early July is the Appalachians are a northeast-southwest Mountain-laurel May and June up of broadleafed trees, but because this toward desert or arctic climates. time to see blossoms. Azaleas can be any range along which successive generations of forest type grows higher up the mountains, Flame azalea May and June of several colors, but the orange-sherbet plants could grow further southward as the trees are much like those seen in the Rose-purple rhododendron mid June colored flame azalea is the most noticeable. the great glaciers moved into the North northern states at lower elevations. Beech AUTUMN White rhododendron June and July Mountain-laurel is found throughout the East, Administration during the Ice Age. If the mountains and yellow birch are prominent species. The forest in Autumn displays the many And here are some recommended locations but here in the Smokies its white or pinkish had run east-west, as they do in Europe, Samples of this forest type may be seen at colors that might be expected when so many to see wildflowers and shrubs: blossoms grow on record-size plants. Great Smoky Mountain National Park is many warm-climate species of plants Newfound Gap and along the Clingmans species of trees are present. Autumn administered by the National Park Service, would have been trapped on the north side Dome Road where the evergreen forest is comes first to the higher elevations and is U.S. Department of the Interior. A super­ and exterminated by the cold. Working in interrupted at intervals by these trees. previewed by fire cherry trees with red leaves Location Flowers Dates intendent, whose address is Gatlinburg, concert with the directional trend of the splashing color across ridges well before Noah Bud Ogle Farm Trail A springtime variety (trilliums, mid-April to mid-May TN 37738, is in immediate charge. Appalachians to produce variety was yet The Spruce-Fir Forest is so distinctive that other leaves begin to change color. By early phacelia, violets, lady's slippers, Cove Hardwoods Nature Trail another factor—the many types of habitats it is the forest type most easily recognized. October, autumn is usually over at the mile- jack-in-the pulpits, showy This folder is published by the Great Smoky that existed, and continue to exist, The trees are evergreens—Fraser fir and high level and above, but the best color is Round Bottom Road orchis, and others) Mountains Natural History Association, within them.

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