vandaliatraveler:Blister Run Swamp, situated in a shallow bowl on the crown of Cheat Mountain, is on
vandaliatraveler:Blister Run Swamp, situated in a shallow bowl on the crown of Cheat Mountain, is one of the ecological treasures of the Central Appalachian mountains, hosting a number of plants and animals that are typically found farther north in the boreal forests of Maine or southern Canada. The bog forms at the headwaters of Blister Run, which is named for the “blister pine” that grows along its banks; the name is an archaic reference to Canaan fir, a lovely sub-species of balsam fir native to the local highlands. The water in the stream and bog is tea-colored, the result of staining by tannins leached from spruce and fir needles and other organic matter. Some of the characteristic plants of the bog and surrounding spruce-fir forest include: speckled alder (Alnus incana), a wetlands shrub that forms dense thickets by suckering; Canaan fir (Abies balsamea var. phanerolepis mountain wood sorrel (Oxalis montana and round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia). -- source link