Moultrie Scene May 2022 | Page 54

Naturalists estimate that over one million trout lilies in total call the preserve home .
Though the Spotted Trout Lily ( Erythronium umbilicatum ) may be seen in other parts of north Florida and south Georgia , such as the high bluffs along the Apalachicola River and the southern Chattahoochee River , nowhere can they be found in such numbers as at Wolf Creek . The preserve stewards the largest known population of this species anywhere in the world .
Each individual flower blooms for just four to five days per year . This period of flowering may arrive anytime from early January to early April for a given plant , but the peak of the glory arrives in mid-February , when hundreds of thousands of lilies carpet the slopes in a dazzling expanse of pale gold . The flowers are closed at night and stay hidden until the early afternoon , when they reveal their beauty for a few short hours , closing again with the fall of light . If the sky is overcast , the flowers may not open at all .
The Spotted Trout Lily must reach four to five years of age before flowering . How long the plant lives is a mystery , but botanists believe that the lifespan of this species may stretch into the decades . Like most native wildflowers , the Spotted Trout Lily is pollinated by wind and flying insects , but the seeds are spread by an unusual agent : ants ! The small but mighty insects are drawn to the nutritious appendage attached to each seed , which
The Maroon Spotted Trillium , also known as Spotted Wakerobin and Toad Shade Trillium , may be sighted blooming alongside the trout lilies at Wolf Creek Preserve .
54 MoultrieScene MAY 2022