Mint Family August 1, 2008 Corbin, KY Good grief, what a difficult scientific name to have to type or pronounce! There are several Mountain Mints growing in east Tennessee. Several of them have the whitish, hoary leaves, so it can be difficult to tell them apart. Luckily, I had a rare plant expert with me to help identify this plant. Although this plant was photographed in Kentucky, we share many of the same plants along our common border and habitats. Much of the Daniel Boone National Forest has the same topography and flora as the Cumberland Plateau that extends into central eastern Tennessee.
Snapdragon Family Corbin, KY August 1, 2008 This little plant could be very easily overlooked. I was fortunate to have a rare plant expert, UK professor Dr. Thomas Barnes, show me where to find it in a badly overgrown powerline cut in the Daniel Boone National Forest. I told him, as we were wiping sweat from our brows, squishing through mud and swatting pesky gnats, we were either crazy or really loved what we do to go through such discomfort to find a few wildflowers! Thanks to his help that day I added 6 new flowers to my lifelist raising the total to 2123!
* Cherohala Skyway, TN/NC border August 20, 2006 This is a common roadside wildflower. It was growing at over 5000 feet in elevation. It has some strange common names!
