Rare Cahaba Lily (Hymenocallis coronaria)

Dixie

Scott (bham) and I went out to the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge yesterday to photograph the rare and endangered Cahaba Lily (Hymenocallis coronaria). Here are a few of my shots.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Click on the image for EXIF data.









Thanks for looking. More flowers located here.

schmoo

I'll move this to OTS so the flower experts can savor them.

Great portraits of these lovely ladies. The water drops are like their jewelry

Michael Atkins

Absolutely beautiful! I especially like the first one. The close ups are also really great but I always like to appreciate the entire scene and you've done that exceptionally well here. Thanks for sharing these beautiful shots

black mamba

Very nice series. Well done.

bham

Here are a few of mine from the trip
















Dixie taking a shot

Skippy

Dixie wrote:

Scott (bham) and I went out to the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge yesterday to photograph the rare and endangered Cahaba Lily (Hymenocallis coronaria). Here are a few of my shots.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Click on the image for EXIF data.
Thanks for looking. More flowers located here.

Hi Dixie love that second shot
What a pretty flower, why is it endangered?

Did you guys take your shoes and socks off to get those shots?

Thanks for sharing ... Skippy
.

bham

Getting to those flowers that grow only in shallow flowing water areas of the river required a good 10 to 15 minute trek out to them thru the river. I was wearing my crocs. The bottom of the river is covered by various rock formations and other growth. Some places it maybe 6 inches deep, others 6 feet. You must walk slowly and cautious especially when trying to keep camera equipment dry. I always bring an older tripod for use as a third leg for exploring what I can't see (usually the river bottom) before taking any step.

Dixie

Skippy wrote:

Hi Dixie love that second shot
What a pretty flower, why is it endangered?

Did you guys take your shoes and socks off to get those shots?

Thanks for sharing ... Skippy
.

They are only growing in a few places in three states. ...a guess on my part, but I would have to assume with the building of dams, etc. their habitat is threatened. Here is a quote from one of the articles about the lily and you can see that they have very specific needs and polution is a major problem.

Cahaba lilies live in specialized habitats; they only occur in open well-lit rocky shoals of streams and rivers. Other requirements the lilies have are swift-moving and well-oxygenated water free of pollution and sediments. The primary pollinator of the lily is a nighttime visitor known as the plebian sphinx moth. The moth is attracted to the lily by the fragrance of the flower and the sugary reward it offers. Once seeds are produced, they drop into the water and sink to the bottom where they are wedged into rock and grow to become new plants.

I carried an old pair of shoes to wear in the river and changed back after I was out of the water.

ian408

Dixie/Bham, those are beautiful flowers and great shots.

Looks like you guys had to get dirty too. Thanks for that

Dixie

schmoo wrote:

I'll move this to OTS so the flower experts can savor them.

Great portraits of these lovely ladies. The water drops are like their jewelry

Thanks, schmoo.

Dixie

bham wrote:

Here are a few of mine from the trip



Dixie taking a shot

Thanks, Scott. You got some nice ones too. Then you had to include the one with left-eyed guy shooting some pics.

...but it was a great day and all we got wet were our feet. ...and the tripod legs.

Dixie

Thank yous to Michael and black mamba as well.

Dixie

ian408 wrote:

Dixie/Bham, those are beautiful flowers and great shots.

Looks like you guys had to get dirty too. Thanks for that

Thanks, Ian. It was a great place to get "dirty."