Carolina Environmental Diversity Explorations
Jocassee Gorges · By Stephanie Walters and Dirk Frankenberg
Why are there so many rare plants in Jocassee Gorges?
The Oconee Bell is one of the rare plants found in Jocasee Gorges. (Image credit. More about the photograph)
The topography of Jocassee Gorges is responsible for the incredible rainfall the area receives, and thus is also ultimately responsible for the many rare and endemic plants of the region. The shape of the gorges causes the rising air, thunderheads, and rainfall described on the previous page. Essentially, the gorges act as chimneys to force warm moist air upward and produce heavy rains. Most parts of Jocassee Gorges receive about 80 inches of rain a year, but some areas receive over 100 inches. With so much moisture and the moderate climate of Jocassee, plant life cannot help but flourish.
According to one inventory, Jocassee Gorges contains sixty-three rare plant species; of these, twenty-three are mosses, nine are ferns, and one is a lichen. The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program reports that 22 percent of the 568 rare plant and animal species that inhabit North Carolina’s eighteen mountain counties occur in the escarpment region, an area that covers only 2.6 percent of the mountains.
Many plants normally found only in the tropics are found here, as well as many species of bryophytes, which are characteristic of tropical rain forests. Often, the same wind that brings moisture and moderate temperatures to this region carries the spores of these tropical plants northward. When the wind collides with the escarpment, the spores are embedded in the mountainous wall. Thus the wind provides both the spores and the moist and moderate climate they need to grow.
One of the most famous plant endemic to the gorges is the Shortia galacifolia, the Oconee Bell. This pink-flowered plant was first discovered in 1788 but remained unnamed until 1839. It grows near streams in areas of constant humidity. A flood in Jocassee Gorges coupled with over harvesting from the natural populations have put this plant on North Carolina’s endangered species list, although it remains commercially available as nursery stock.
Another rare flowering plant found in this area is a type of orchid called the Small Whirled Pomona (Astir medeoloides). Only a few populations of this of this orchid exist, and most of these have fewer than twenty plants each. According to the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, North Carolina has six populations of the Small Whirled Pomona with a total of fewer than 100 individual plants.
A particularly showy plant endemic to the gorges area is Fraser’s loosestrife. A flourishing population of this species can be seen alongside Bull Pen Road above the Chatanooga River. Fraser’s loosestrife requires a great deal of light to grow, and so many of the remaining populations inhabit roadsides. Although this makes viewing these rare plants easier, it makes protecting them increasingly difficult. Traffic and road maintenance threatens this species, and the number of populations is decreasing rapidly. Directions for reaching the Bull Pen Road populations of Fraser’s loosestrife and other interesting sites in Jocassie Gorges can be found in a Exploring North Carolina Natural Areas by Gary Kaufman (University of North Carolina Press, 2000).
