If you ever wanted to feel like you are in a fairy-tale-like forest, this is the flower to be around.
This is my top favorite native wildflower, just being around them make you feel like you are in this fairy-like wonderland. The way the petals curl and fray, they are just beautiful. The pink/lilac burst in color during their blooming stage and as they soak in more of the sun their colors blend to a soft pastel and then to white. This flower has an amazing transformation.
I have seen a few at Big Pine, but never as many as I saw yesterday. After a prescribed burn, around 4-6 months ago (time flies) these wildflowers just popped up out of nowhere.
That particular area FWC biologists, Matt Koenig, and Cliff Barga conducted a prescribed burn is filling up with Pine Hyacinth, and now is the best opportunity to photograph them.
There is another species of these flowers, called a Netleaf Leather-Flower. The leather flower has the same flower shape but is a vine.
Big Pine Tract is part of the Chinsegut Wildlife and Environmental Area. The entrance is off of Old Crystal River Road in Brooksville. Be sure to sign in!
According to the Plant Atlas, the first documented species was in Hernando County in 1958 by George. R. Cooley, in the Chinsegut Hill area.
Links:
https://flawildflowers.org/flower-friday-clematis-baldwinii/
https://fnps.org/assets/pdf/pubs/clematis_baldwinii_pine-hyacinth_3_0.pdf
