KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - It’s never been seen in the Volunteer State, and it’s 200 miles from its closest neighbor. We’re not talking about a lost tourist or an off-course black bear, but a plant. And it might have been hiding out on a cliff since the last ice age!
“We were all really excited and there was high fives,” TVA botanist Adam Dattilo told us.
Dattilo has a cool job. He searches for rare wild plants for the Tennessee Valley Authority. And when Adam caught a flash of purple, he was intrigued. “If you see something, doesn’t ring a bell, kind of gets the juices flowing.”
His curiosity led to an incredible find.
“We had no idea how much of this species was present,” Dattilo said. The common harebell isn’t supposed to be here. As for its name, the bell-shaped flowering plant is fairly common at higher latitudes, but not around here.
“Almost 200 air miles away from the nearest known location,” Dattilo said. Those are in Virginia and North Carolina.
“Both of those locations are a lot colder than where we found it in Meigs County. In addition to that, it’s new to Tennessee,” Datillo said. “It’s never been seen in the wild in the state of Tennessee.”
Thanks to TVA’s fleet of drones, Adam got a close-up of what he calls a ‘relic’ species.
“They just hang on in these little habitats as the rest of the world is changed,” Dattilo said.
That change means this little violet flower may not have much time.
“As the climate continues to change, it will be interesting to watch populations like this one, to see if they persist or if they don’t,” Dattilo said.
But for now, if you know just where to look:
“These things are right here in our own backyard,” Dattilo said. These amazing natural features."
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The Link LonkOctober 29, 2020 at 05:52AM
https://www.wvlt.tv/2020/10/28/wild-flower-wild-find-never-before-seen-until-now-in-tennessee/
Wild flower, wild find: Never-before-seen until now in Tennessee - WVLT
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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