This April, sixteen lucky hikers had the opportunity to visit Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve, an outstanding botanical location with many rare species that thrive due to the high soil pH there. The number and diversity of plant species is such that Patrick McMillan has described it as a “magical forest wonderland,” and that to miss seeing it means “you will have missed spring altogether”!
The loop trail is less than 2 miles long, short but rich, and follows the creek for a while. You can see how high the water can get during heavy rainstorms. The trail then climbs to the top of the bluff alongside of the trail (a nice picnic spot).
Scouting the preserve in late February, we were delighted to see remnants of earlier blooms as well as some new ones. The remnants included false rue anemone (Enemion biternatum) and dimpled trout lily (Erythronium umbilicatum). April blooms included shooting stars (Dodecatheon meadia), Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), and trilliums, trilliums, trilliums. Trilliums to the left of the trail, trilliums to the right and even right on the trail!
Stevens Creek HP is best known for the Miccosukee gooseberry (Ribes echinellum), which grows only in Jefferson County, Florida, and McCormick County, South Carolina. In February the scouts met a group of botanists from the Atlanta Botanical Garden who were inventorying the gooseberries in a plot for the Atlanta Botanical Garden as part of an ongoing study.
Our leader, SCNPS President Dan Whitten, hinted that there might be an uncommon edible plant in the woods. Wouldn’t you know it, our youngest hiker, Jane, was the first to spot those morel mushrooms!
There is SO much to see at Stevens Creek, too much to list here. My advice is to try to visit monthly from the end of January through the end of April so you don’t miss anything. Here’s a link to a great list on iNaturalist.
Member Eric McNeely generously shared his photo album, which you can peruse here.
More Stevens Creek links:
NameThatPlant.net: Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve
Miccosukee Gooseberry, South Carolina Wildlife Federation
Miccosukee Gooseberry, Center For Plant Conservation
Betsy Russell
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- Bill McCullough and the group stop to get up close to spring wildflowers at Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve last April, by Eric McNeely
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- Dan Whitten at Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve by Eric McNeely
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- bottomland forest at Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve by Eric McNeely
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- Ribes echinellum, Miccosukee gooseberry, by Janie Marlow
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- by Eric McNeely
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- Beech trees, Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve by Diane Perdue-Shupe
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- Geranium maculatum at Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve by Don McInnes
