There is a section of Brazzell Rd. that Dickson Electric System sprayed with some kind of poison in the summer of 2011. This year the bank has begun to return to the condition it was in before the spraying, though some plants will never recover.

It appears that the large golden seal (Hydrastis canadensis) population was completely wiped out. Golden seal is listed as being of special concern in Tennessee because of commercial exploitation. Another native plant I no longer see here is Phlox pilosa. Others that have struggled to survive include various ferns (christmas, ebony spleenwort, and maidenhair) and shrubs, such as native azalea and Hydrangea arborescens, our native lacecap. The shrubs do an excellent job of stabilizing the road cuts at two different places on the road, but since they have been killed back the heavy rains make earth slides onto the roadway. The wildflower list from this site is extensive, including Jacob’s ladder, Indian pink, mayapple, trillium, wild asters, ditany, fire pinks, wild geranium, heuchera, iris, krigia, canada anemone (endangered), rue anemone, solomon seal, false solomon seal, toothworts, and the list goes on.

Yesterday when I was driving in, I spotted a canada lily in bloom and went back today with the camera. Lilium canadense is listed as threatened in Tennessee. I only found 2 plants. There used to be a few more, before the bank was sprayed. This flower is pollinated by butterflies, honeybees and leaf-cutting bees, and by ruby-throated hummingbirds.

Also found one of our native Clematis, probably in the sub-genus Viornae. It has rambled all over the bank.