Allegheny Vine
…is also known as Climbing Fumitory. The flowers are pale pink and look like skinny bleeding heart blooms that hang in clusters. It’s a member of the Poppy family and belongs to the Bleeding Heart Subfamily (Fumarioideae).
Adlumia fungosa
The favored growing conditions seem to be on rocky slopes. In this case the plants are growing out of rock rubble at a quarry where one would thing nothing would grow. It seems to be quit at home though and a large area is covered with it. It can grow to 10 – 12 feet long and the few ‘weeds’ that managed to get a foothold in the rocky ground are smothered with the vine.
Leaves are divided in 3s and each leaflet is lobed. Overall the plant isn’t going to win any beauty contest but I’m happy to add it to my ‘collection’. I haven’t seen it anywhere beside this spot but it has to be around the north country. I can’t believe this is an isolated sighting since it’s range includes Minnesota, Ontario, eastern Quebec, Nwe England states and heads south to North Carolina. It’s most often seen in the Allegheny Mountains – hence the common name.
While my field guides states that it blooms from June to September I’ve only seen it flower in late summer. I wasn’t expecting to find it in bloom now but the absence of any frost so far has let it continue to flower. (we’re nearly a month past average first frost date)
At the quarry I found another plant with the same family ties. I saw it in bloom on June 1st and now new plants are busy blooming. But this time I got a shot of the seed pods.
The family resemblance isn’t as strong with the flowers but the leaves are fairly similar.
Well this is what you get now that I’m back to work. No time to wander the woods, too sore and tired to sit in front of the computer and post and visit others. It’s raining and I can sure use the break. After being out of commission for 2 months it’s going to take a couple of weeks to get back in shape. If your wondering – I lost a fight with a BFR in July.
