Wildflower Pilgrimage to Staraland
A photo essay
Staraland is a 35-acre nature preserve near Waleska, Georgia. The tiny preserve was donated to the Southeastern Trust for Parks and Land by Bill Stara, in memory of his late wife Ellen.
For its size, Staraland is ecologically remarkable, not only because it’s wild. It happens to be located where three geologic regions converge.
the magmatic Blue Ridge, hailed for biological diversity
the Ridge and Valley ecoregion of sandstone and limestone
the Piedmont
Last week I had the sweet chance to walk Staraland with students from Reinhardt University. We were celebrating the inauguration of an Environmental Studies Minor, organized by Donna Coffey Little.
Keith Ray, director of conservation for Southeastern Trust, guided us into Staraland. I want to offer you a photo essay.
Thank you as ever for loving the wild wild world as we journey through our lovely and complicated lives.
Hello Janisse! Wonderful place. I wonder if I can visit there too? It is not far from me. Trilliums are notoriously difficult to identify due to their simple floral parts, yet great speciation. I was able to learn many from Dr. Vic Soucup, who studied them world-wide. We were on a Georgia Botanical Society Pilgrimage just last weekend so these two are fresh with me. The first (whiter one) looks to be Southern Nodding Wakerobin. It is the only nodding trillium where the flower stem is above the leaf attachments. The second has an even more whimsical name, Bashful Wakerobin. I thought it was called that because of the rosy (blushing) petals. Others say the flowers sometimes hide behind leaves or bracts. I think that is true of a lot of the trilliums! Saw more Southern Nodding Wakerobins and Small Jack-in-the-pulpits on a job site this week. Enjoy!
Hey, I'm right over here in Athens, Ga! I'm in love with those Mayapple!!!