Trip South into Spring - BIO 3520 Plant Taxonomy

If the spring wildflowers of a Southern Appalachian forest could put into words the collective experience of the generations of their ancestors who graced the mountain slopes and coves, they would teach us much about the history, culture, and botany of this region. Botanically speaking, the forests of western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee contain some of the richest plant biodiversity in North America. Because the more southerly latitudes of Southeastern U.S. generally experience more direct incident solar radiation and a greater influx of warm air from the Gulf than the Northeastern U.S. and the Midwest, the region has a milder winter and an earlier emergence of the spring flora than the northern states. It is this effect of climate on phenology that makes it possible for us to almost literally "trip into Spring."

Imagine traveling south on I-75 and stopping every 34.4 miles, equivalent to 0.5 degree latitude, to measure the progress of blooming of the local Spring Beauty, Claytonia virginica. Would you expect a constant progression toward full bloom? Or would there be other factors at work to influence the phenology (and physiology) of Claytonia virginica? These are the kinds of questions that may make for some good discussions as we drive across a relatively small arc of our planetary sphere.

But there is more than botany in the mountains of Tenn. and NC. We can also learn much about the history and culture of North America. We will spend time in the Nantahala National Forest, from the Native American word nantahala, meaning "Land of the Noonday Sun." This name is fitting for the deep mountain valleys and coves which receive direct rays of the sun only around midday when the sun is directly overhead. Spanish Conquistador, Hernando DeSoto, explored the area in 1540. This land was also the home of the Cherokee, a culture that chose to live in harmony with the colonists who entered from the east. However, the settler's lust for land and gold led to eventual forceful removal of most of the Cherokee from the mountains, in 1837. The unfolding of the story of the two clashing cultures is a gripping and convicting chapter in American history. Beginning in the late 1800's, timber companies began to log the mountain forests and by 1910, nearly 40% of the timber harvested in the U.S. was from the Southern Appalachians. May our Creator use this trip to enrich our lives as we focus on the botanical while being sensitive to the historical and ethical dimensions of human culture.