Halesia tetraptera

Carolina Silverbell 

White bell shaped flowers

Pod-like fruits with 4 broad wings in summer/fall

Identity Feature: Stretch marks on young stems 

Small understory tree

Bees pollinate in early spring 

Tsuga caroliniana 

Carolina/Eastern Hemlock

Needle-like leaves are spread in all directions (Unlike Canada Hemlock)

Has larger cones than Canada Hemlock

Dry, rocky sites

Shade and Drough Tolerant 

Hydrangea radiata

Silverleaf hydrangea

Deciduous shrub

Leaves opposite

Small flowers are fertile

Larger flowers are sterile but attractive

Rosa multiflora

Multiflora Rose

Pinnately compound leaves

Showy clusters of white to pink flowers

Bright red fruits that persist into winter

Shade intolerant

Introduced - Asia 

Used as a "living fence" 

Anemone quinquefolia

Wood anemone

Deeply divided leaves with 3 or 5 lobes

Solitary white flowers w/ 5 petal like sepals

Spring ephemeral 

Climate impact - Flowers 15 days sooner due to warmer temperatures 

Maianthemum racemosum

Plumed/False Solomon's Seal

Alternate leaves

Conspicuous parallel veins

Tiny white flowers in dense terminal clusters

Spread via rhizomes

2 years to germinate

Depends on insects cross pollinating 

Mildly cathartic red fruits 

Mitchella repens

Partridge Berry

Prostrate evergreen

Round berry-like fruits persist through winter

Forests with acidic soils

Takes 2 flowers to mature a fruit

Polygonatum biflorum

Soloman's Seal

Alternate Leaves

Conspicuous veins 

Bell shaped flowers hang beneath leaves

Spread via rhizome

Exhibits di- and tetra-ploidy 

Prosartes lanuginosa

Yellow Mandarin 

Alternate, sessile leaves with prominent veins

Flowers are nodding, yellow-green, bell shaped

Nutrient rich deciduous woods

Orange-red fruits

Tiarella cordifolia

Foamflower

Leaves resemble a maple leaf

Dense clusters of white flowers in spring

Orange anthers

Moist forests

Leaves persist for one year and are high in tannins

Trillium discolor 

Pale Yellow Trillium 

Mottled leaved

Sessile flowers with 3 upright, pale yellow, spoon shaped petals

Restricted to the Savannah River drainage

Ant dispersal - elaiosome 

Trillium vaseyi

Vasey's Trillium 

Solitary maroon flower

Largest flower of native trilliums

Slow to develop (10 yrs from germination to flowering)

Sweet fragrance

Quercus montana

Chestnut Oak

Slow growing, long lived

Leaves lack bristles (white oak tribe)

Dry upland slopes and ridgetops

Shade intolerant

Well adapted to fire

Acorns

Aesculus sylvatica 

Painted Buckeye 

Palmately compound leaves

Tubular corolla (yellow to red)

Poisonous substance called aesculin in leaves and seeds

Native Americans used to catch fish

Opuntia humifusa

Eastern Prickly Pear

Prostrate native cactus

Photosynthetic stems

Ripe fruits are edible 

Packera obovata

Roundleaf Ragwort

Member of the sunflower family

Perennial herb

Dense colonies via stolons 

Stellaria pubera

Giant Chickweed

Weak stemmed

Perennial

White star-like flowers

5 deeply cleft flowers (looks like 10)

Flowers promote cross pollination

Anthers release pollen before stigmas are receptive

Tradescantia hirsuticaulis 

Hairy Spiderwort

Linear leavse and parallen veins

Flowers with 3 blue to rose petals and 6 stamens

Bees pollinate

Can be used to detect air pollution (flowers)

Verbascum thapsus

Woolly Mullein 

Basal rosette of large, thick, velvety leaves

Yellow flowers in dense terminal spike

Disturbed areas

Non-native 

Shade intolerant 

Yucca filamentosa

Beargrass

Curly fibers along leaf margins

Obligate mutualism with Yucca Moth

Intentional pollenation 

Cheilanthes 

Hairy Lip Fern

Evergreen fern

Rock outcrops

Dehydration tolerant 

Looks like a little baby fern

Cladina

Reindeer lichen 

Silver grey when dry, greenish when moist

Fungus and cyanobacterium

Do not have roots - can grow on bare rock

Indicator of air quality - Particularly Sulfur Dioxide

Grimmia

Dry Rock Moss

Pin-cushion like growth

Black when dry

Absorb moisture from air

Facilitate colonization by other species

Dehydration tolerant 

Selaginella

Twisted Hair Spikemoss

Moss-like but is vascular

Reproduces via spores 

Clonal growth

Colonizes shallow soils 

Dehydration tolerant 

Aesculus flava

Yellow Buckeye

Develops into large tree 

Moist fertile soils in the mountains

Shade tolerant

Pollen dispersal by hummingbirds

Leucothoe

Mountain Doghobble

Evergreen shrub with arching stems

Moist acidic soils, along streams and in ravines in the mountains

Dense thickets provide protection

Lindera benzoin

Spicebush

Aromatic 

Moist woods with fertile soils

More males than females in most populations

Lipid rich fruits in late summer/fall

Rhododendron maximum 

Rosebay

Evergreen shrub

Moist acidic woods to dry rocky slopes

Largest and most common rhododendron

Prescribed burns used to control

Wildlife thickets 

Chrysogonum virginianum

Green and Gold

Pubescent, opposite leaves

Member of the sunflower family - bright yellow heads (3 notches in ray flowers)

Diphasiastrum 

Running Cedar

Club moss family

Remains are a main source of today's coal

Reproduces by spores

Spores are high in oil - used as flash powder 

Erigeron

Robin's Plantain

Perennial herb

Daisy-like flower heads (50-100 ray flowers)

Wind dispersal 

AKA: Fleabane 

Hepatica acutiloba

Acute-Lobed Hepatica

Clusters of 3-lobed evergreen leaves

Flowers are nectarless

Flowers have ability to self pollinate

Ants disperse seeds - elaiosome

Pleopeltis polypodioides

Resurrection Fern

Evergreen

Epiphytic fern

Dessication tolerant 

Water uptake mostly via leaves

Spreads by spores and stolons

Thalictrum thalictroides

Meadowrue 

Each leaf has 3 leaflets

3 shallow rounded lobes on leaflets

Flowers in umbels

Moist forests

Can handle being stepped on 

Viola sororia

Common Blue Violet 

Basal rosette of broadly heart-shaped leaves

disturbed areas

Carya ovata

Shagbark Hickory

Bark forms long strips that curl outward

Pinnately compound leaves with 5 leaflets

Round nut with thick husk

Slow growing, long lived, shade tolerant

Deep taproot seedlings

Passenger pigeon used to disperse seeds 

Liriodendron tulipifera

Tulip Tree

Straight trunk

Distinctive broadly lobed leaves

yellow/green tulip shaped leaves

Persistent cone shaped fruits with large winged seeds

Two species in genus - ENA and Asia

Gap dependent species

Pinus echinata 

Short Leaf Pine

Pinholes in bark

Needs 3-5 inches long 

Fasicles of 2

Small egg-shaped cones

Drops lower branches

Can resprout after burns 

Ulmus alata

Winged Elm

Corky wing projections on twigs

Suceptible to Dutch Elm disease

Planted as a shade tree

Drought tolerant 

Fast growing 

Doubly serrate leaves 

Aplectrum 

Adam and Eve (puttyroot)

Single leaf

Many narrow white longitudinal ridges

Leaf withers in the spring

Mucilaginous tissue in corms

Monotypic genus

Fertile moist soils 

Carex plantaginea 

Plantainleaf Sedge

Prominent midrib

Looks similar to monkey grass

Almost all sedges are wind pollinated

Podophyllum 

Mayapple

Large umbrella like leaves

Solitary nodding white flowers

Deceptive pollenation

Treats certain types of cancer! 

Sanguinaria

Bloodroot

Large solitary white flower

Moist forests

Leaf is initially vertical, later becomes horizontal

War paint dye

Carcinogenic 

Shortia galacifolia 

Oconee Bells

Shiny circular leaves with serrate margins

White bell shaped flowers

Looks similar to galax

Moist slopes - Habitat restrictions limit (rare)

Restricted to gorges in Blue Ridge escarpment in SC, NC and GA

Discovered by Andre Michaux

Tipularia discolor

Cranefly orchid

Wintergreen species

Green upper surface, purple lower surface

Pollinated by night flying moths

Deer commonly eat leaves

Trillium cuneatum 

Sweet Betsy

Moist woods, calcium rich soils

Ant dispersal - elaiosomes

Mottled leaves, Maroon sepals

Viola hastata

Halberdleaf Yellow Violet

Perennial

2-4 arrowhead shaped leaves

Bright yellow flowers

Moist deciduous forests

Cleistogamous 

Ballistic seed dispersal in all violets 

Cardamine hirsuta 

Bittercress

Winter annual

Small white flowers with 4 petals

Ballistic seed dispersal 

Galium

Catchweed Bedstraw

Winter annual 

Whorled leaves, tiny white flowers

Stems have recurved bristles

Hitchhiker dispersal

Geranium carolinianum

Carolina Geranium 

Winter annual

Pale pink to white flowers

Disturbed sites

Self burial mechanism of seeds

Lamium amplexicaule

Henbit

Winter Annual

Pinkish tubular flowers in whorls

Fuzzy flower tops

Cleistogamous species

Lamium purpureum

Deadnettle

Crowded, overlapping, petioled upperleaves

Is NOT cleistogamous 

Winter annual

Purplish color leaves at top 

Poa annua

Annual Bluegrass

Distinctive boat shaped tip

Fibrous root system

Many ecotypes 

Prolific seed producer 

Stellaria media 

Common Chickweed

Mat forming species

Vertical band of hairs on stem

Winter annual 

Veronia hederifolia 

Ivyleaf Speedwell

Light lavender to blue flowers

Winter annual

3-5 shallow lobes in leaves 

Viola bicolor 

Field Pansy

Blue-violet to yellow 

Cleistogamous

Winter Annual 

Allium

Wild Garlic

Hollow cylindrical leaves

May or may not have flowers

sometimes just bulbils present 

Taraxacum

Common dandelion

Good nectar and pollen source

Seeds produce asexually

Wind dispersed seeds 

Winter perennial 

Trifolium repens

White Clover

Perennial

Trifoliate leaves

Spreads via stolons and rooting at nodes

Pollinated by bees 

Seeds lack dormancy

Shallow fibrous root system - vulnerable to drought

Erythronium

Dimpled Trout Lily

Spring ephemeral

Solitary yellow flower above mottled leaves

Pollination and fruit set is high

Has elaiosome

Galax

Galax or Skunkweed

Dense clusters of round, shiny leaves

Anthocyanin

Shade tolerant

Multiple flowers per flower stalk

Both diploid and tetraploid possible 

Pinus pungens

Table Mountain Pine

Shade intolerant

Slow growing

Dry woods, ridges, usually at higher elevations

Serotinous cones

Main threat: Fire suppression 

Pinus virginiana

Virginia Pine

Short needles in fasicles of 2

Cones persist on trees

Invades after fires

Early successional species

Prolific seed producer

Christmas Trees

Quercus coccinea

Scarlet Oak 

Deeply lobed leaves

Shade intolerant

Thin bark

Tolerates drought

Arundinaria appalachiana

Hill Cane

Native bamboo

Woody base

Forms dense stands called canebreaks

Infrequent flowering 

Monocarpic

Asexual reproduction is common

Kalmia latifolia

Mountain Laurel

Evergreen shrub

Round capsule fruits, persist through winter

Member of the heath family

Acidic soils 

Rhododendron minus

Gorge Rhododendron

Large terminal bud

Brown underneath the leaf

Leaves are somewhat smaller

Leaves often curl in times of drought

Andropogon

Broomsedge

Warm sedge perennial bunchgrass (it is a grass, not a sedge)

Looks wheaty

Short lived

Shade intolerant

Benefits from fire

Epigaea repens

Trailing Arbutus

Prostrate plant

Small clusters of white to pinkish flowers 

Health family

Acid loving

Heavily veined

Elaiosomes 

Fagus grandifolia

American Beech

Smooth grey bark 

Deciduous trees, tan leaves persist overwinter

Lanceolate buds

Mesic forests

Thin bark

Liquidambar

Sweetgum

Star shaped leaves

Corky wing like projections on bark

Spiny ball like fruits

Sun loving

Prolific seed producer

Clonal species

Gelsemium sempervirens

Carolina Jessamine

Wiry reddish stems

bright yellow funnel shaped flowers

Alkaloid

Twining vine

State flower of SC

Lonicera japonica

Japanese Honeysuckle

Flowers white fading to yellow

Tubular and very fragrant

Exotic invasive

Constricts trees

Destroys herbaceous layer

Pollinated by bees and moths

Chimaphila

Pipsissewa or  Striped Wintergreen

Thick leaves with white stripe on midrib

Very shade tolerant

Hexastylis 

Little Brown Jugs

Smooth, arrow head evergreen leaves

Ginger-like odor but not related to ginger

Lays up or down depending on temperature

Elaiosomes

Polystichum

Christmas Fern

Common evergreen fern

Erect or prostrate depending on temperatures

Phoradendron

American Mistletoe

Hemiparasite

Upper canopy of trees

Seeds are sticky

Uses tree nutrients and photosynthesizes itself

Pinus taeda

Loblolly pine

Long fasicles of 3

Common in piedmont

Sharp prickles

Thick Bark

Suceptible to southern Pine beetle

Timber

Magnolia grandiflora

Southern Magnolia

Large terminal bud

Native to coastal plain

Mainly moist fertile soils along rivers and swamps

Pollinated by beetles

Ornamental 

Hedera helix

English Ivy

Evergreen vine

Introduced

Can cause a strain on host tree (weight)

Used for landscaping

Ilex opaca

American Holly

Evergreen tree

Dioecious

Thin bark

Low nutrients in leaves and fruits

Ornamental

Juniperus virginiana

Eastern Red Cedar

Evergreen tree

Tiny scale like leaves

Fleshy blueish cones

Most widely distributed conifer in the US

Drought tolerant

Shade intolerant 

Pinus strobus

Eastern White Pine

Branches in whorls

Needles in fasicles of 5

White pine blister rust

Uses: Shade tree and Lumber

Ligustrum sinense

Chinese privet

Evergreen to semi-evergreen shrub

Leaves are opposite

Fragrant white flowers 

Moist soils, abundant light

Exotic invasive

Chokes out other plants 

Elaeagnus

Autumn Olive 

Sharp thorns

Dark green above, silvery below leaves

Red fruits

Exotic invasive

Abundant fruits

Pinus palustris

Longleaf Pine

Long needles (10-18" long)

3 per fasicle

Fire dependent

Used for pine straw covering

Tsuga canadensis

Canada/Eastern Hemlock

Flattened needle like leaves

Two white lines below leaves

Cool ravines and coves

Hardwood and long lived

Shade tolerant

Shallow roots

Hemlock woolly adelgid

Asplenium

Walking Fern

Narrow evergreen fronds

Long pointed tip

Grows on moist boulders (basic rocks)

Spreads by spores and rooting at tip

Cardamine concatenata

Cutleaf Toothwort

Perennial herb

Single whorl of 3 stem leaves

Small white to pinkish cross shaped flowers 

Spring ephemeral

Edible rhizome 

Caulophyllum

Blue Cohosh

Perennial Herb

Compound leaves

Blue, berry like seds

Grows on nutrient rich soils

Claytonia

Spring Beauty

Herbaceous perennial

Spring ephemeral

Small white flowers with dark pink veins

Starchy corms

Dicentra

Dutchman's Britches

Spring ephemeral

Alkaloids in foliage deter animals

Marchantia

Liverwort

Non-vascular

Moist rock or bare soil

400 million years old 

Spreads by fragmentation, sexually and asexually produced spores (gemmae) in splash cups

Micranthes

Brook Lettuce

Herbaceous perennial 

Grows on spray cliffs and seepage slopes

Basal rosette

Trillium grandiflorum

Large Flowered Trillium

Whorl of 3 solid green leaves

Large funnel shaped white flower

Produces both nectar and pollen

Uvularia grandiflora

Large Flowered Bellwort

Leaves alternate, perfoliate

Elaiosomes

Petals and leaves appear limp, even when fresh