North Carolina's famous "vertical bog"

In mid-July of last year, I was fortunate indeed to get to attend the 2025 Cullowhee Native Plant Conference, which began about 40 years ago. It is a humdinger of a natural history conference, one of the best that I have been to. I was there to speak about moths and their over-sized role in food chains, based on THIS BOOK.

Many experienced botanists attend this conference, and it wasn't long after arrival that I started hearing about the "vertical bog" or "hanging fen". It's only an hour or so away from the conference site, right along the Blue Ridge Parkway and near the highest elevations to be found in the area. Following the conference, I beat feet up into the mountains.

This marker isn't too far from the vertical bog. We're over a mile high at this point.

Here's the viewscape from the vicinity of the vertical bog. Dramatic scenery at every turn, and scads of interesting plants.

The vertical bog in all its glory. I prefer the term hanging fen, as that's what this interesting ecosystem is. Constantly flowing groundwater creates constant moisture, and alkaline conditions. Those rocks are full of interesting plants, including many species that an Ohioan fen enthusiast would be familiar with.

Another view of the fen. This spot made for fascinating botanizing, and I highly recommend a stop if you're ever in the area.

It didn't take long to spot familiar fen plants from the Midwest, such as this Grass-of-parnassus (Parnassia glauca). I wish this place were closer, as it would be interesting to visit it at different times throughout the growing season.

False Asphodel (Triantha glutinosa) was thriving on the seepy cliff face. This interesting lily was recently documented as being truly carnivorous. Its upper stem is very glutinous/sticky, and small insects adhere to it, die, and their soft parts are digested by the plant.

Another better-known botanical carnivore is also common here, the Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia).

A number of beautiful Club-spurred Orchids (Platanthera clavellata) grew in damp mossy spots. I was lucky to be there when this species was in full flower. Like many (most? all?) Platanthera orchids, this one is moth pollinated. Each flower is appendaged with an elongate nectar spur. Moths are probably the only pollinators that can a) hover in place in front of the flowers (which lack landing pads), and b) have proboscises long enough to plumb the depths of the nectar spur and in the process pollinate the flowers.

I was pleased indeed to see this small member of the St. John's-wort family (Clusiaceae). It
is the Canada St. John's-wort (Hypericum canadense) which is endangered in Ohio. It was only the 3rd or 4th time I had clapped eyes on this species.

This little shrubby St. John's-wort formed patches of showy ground cover, and it was completely alien to me. It turns out to be Appalachian St. John's-wort (Hypericum buckleyi). This species is a true rarity and extremely localized. It occurs in a smattering of sites in only eight counties, high in the mountains, where North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia meet.

One last species from my all too brief excursion, Michaux's Saxifrage (Micranthes michauxii), which was another "life" plant for me. This one, while not as rare and local as the previous Appalachian St. John's-wort, is largely limited to the same Appalachian highlands, although the delicate little saxifrage extends north into Virginia.

I'll look forward to another visit here someday, hopefully in July when there would be a whole new cast of botanical characters to ogle.