The Tennessee River Gorge is a 26-mile (42 km) canyon formed by the Tennessee River known locally as Cash Canyon . It is the fourth largest river gorge in the Eastern United States . The gorge is cut into the Cumberland Plateau as the river winds its way into Alabama from Tennessee . The Tennessee River Gorge was also known as Walden Gorge . Walden Ridge originally extended across the present path of the Tennessee River at the gorge to Sand Mountain .
14-583: The Tennessee River Gorge is home to endangered species like the mountain skullcap . Many archaeological sites have been discovered in the gorge that show that people have been dwelling in the canyon for at least 10,000 years. Prior to the completion of Hales Bar Dam in 1913 and the subsequent raising of the water level, the stretch of the Tennessee River flowing through the gorge was notorious for its navigational hazards, whirlpools, eddies, shoals, and one huge rock. Beginning with Williams' Island and
28-495: A non-profit conservation trust founded in 1981. The trust also does scientific studies, develops trails, and conducts education efforts. Prentice Cooper State Forest is on the northern edge of the gorge. 35°01′41″N 85°32′42″W / 35.028°N 85.545°W / 35.028; -85.545 This Hamilton County, Tennessee geography–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Marion County, Tennessee geography–related article
42-606: A single, erect square stem and may grow 30 to 60 cm in height. The leaves are simple, opposite in arrangement, lanceolate to ovate with crenate to serrate margins, and the blades are 5 to 8 cm long and 3 to 5 cm wide. Characteristic to this species, the leaves have a soft pubescence with glandular and non-glandular hairs on both surfaces. As the common name suggests, the inflorescence are large at 2.6 to 3.5 cm long; flowers are terminal and blue and white in color. Another characteristic specific to this species and used to distinguish it from other Scutellaria species
56-567: A stem-boring grass moth . Insects (including pests ) are likewise repelled by high amounts of antixenotic allomones produced by Desmodium . A blue dye is obtained from Desmodium incanum . Tick-trefoils in agriculture can also be used as living mulch and as green manure , as they improve soil fertility via nitrogen fixation . Most also make good fodder for animals including bobwhite , turkey, grouse , deer, cattle and goats. Wild-living, non-farmed deer appear to rely on Desmodium species in certain areas, particularly during
70-477: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a protected area in Tennessee is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mountain skullcap Scutellaria montana , with the common names largeflower skullcap , large-flowered skullcap and mountain skullcap , is a perennial forb first described by Alvan Chapman in 1878. This narrowly endemic species
84-401: Is acidic, rocky, and shallow, sometimes as shallow as 3 centimeters. It is dry to somewhat moist in the habitat. Other plants in the habitat include Desmodium spp., Hexastylis spp., Chimaphila maculata , and Cornus florida . This plant was federally listed as an endangered species in 1986. When more populations were discovered, it was downlisted to threatened status in 2002. It
98-535: Is found in the southeastern United States in parts of the Ridge and Valley and Cumberland Plateau Physiographic Provinces . Populations have been documented from four Tennessee counties and nine Georgia counties and is protected under the US Endangered Species act as it is a threatened species. The Latin specific epithet montana refers to mountains or coming from mountains. This plant has
112-453: Is still threatened by human activity such as logging , suburban development, and quarrying . Desmodium Many, see text Desmodium is a genus of plants in the legume family Fabaceae , sometimes called tick-trefoil , tick clover , hitch hikers or beggar lice . There are dozens of species and the delimitation of the genus has shifted much over time. Species are distributed widely – from Quebec to northern Argentina in
126-511: Is that the inflorescence lack an annulus within the corolla tube near the top of the calyx; this is the only species of Scutellaria Section Annulatae that is exannulate. Flowers bloom from mid-May to June, and fruits mature in June and early July. This plant grows in mid- to late-successional forests dominated by oak and pine trees, most often Quercus alba , Q. velutina , and/or Q. montana , and Pinus echinata or P. taeda . The soil
140-687: The Americas, across northern and southern tropical Africa, in the southern Arabian Peninsula, in Myanmar and Thailand, New Guinea, and northern and eastern Australia. These are mostly inconspicuous plants; few have bright or large flowers. Though some can become sizeable plants, most are herbs or small shrubs . Their fruit are loments , meaning each seed is dispersed individually enclosed in its segment. This makes them tenacious plants and some species are considered weeds in places. Several Desmodium species release organic compounds, aerially and into
154-490: The many dozens of Desmodium species are confusing and unresolved. Related genera such as Codariocalyx , Hylodesmum , Lespedeza , Ohwia , and Phyllodium were and sometimes still are included in Desmodium . Taxonomic authorities commonly disagree about the naming and placement of species. For example, Desmodium spirale as described by August Grisebach might refer to a distinct species, but its validity
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#1732771835215168-409: The more stressful summer months. The caterpillars of the lesser grass blue ( Zizina otis ) and the two-barred flasher ( Astraptes fulgerator ) feed on tick-trefoils. Some Desmodium species have formerly been known to contain high amounts of tryptamine alkaloids , but many of the tryptamine-containing species have since been transferred to other genera. The taxonomy and systematics of
182-888: The sandbars on either side of it, these obstructions included Tumbling Shoals, the Holston Rock, the Kettle, the Suck Shoals, the Deadman's Eddy, the Pot, the Skillet, the Pan, and, finally, the ten-mile Narrows, ending with Hale's Bar. As of 2018, 17,000 acres of land in the gorge out of 27,000 acres sought for preservation have been purchased or otherwise secured for conservation by the Tennessee River Gorge Trust ,
196-409: The soil, which make them useful for agriculture: Allelopathic compounds are used there via push-pull technology . For this Desmodium heterocarpon , Desmodium intortum , and Desmodium uncinatum are inter-cropped in maize and sorghum fields to suppress witchweeds , including Asiatic witchweed ( Striga asiatica ) and purple witchweed ( S. hermonthica ) and to repel Chilo partellus ,
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