Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

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Carl D. May
Posts: 362
Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 4:17 am

Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by Carl D. May »

On a recent trip to the Apalachicola National Forest (ANF) I encountered a couple of the more commonly seen turtles crossing the roads. This female Gulf Coast box turtle was trying to get across busy Hwy 20, presumably to lay eggs somewhere, while a number of logging trucks thundered toward her.

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After risking my life to save her I shot this photo where I released her, far from the highway.

Another female Gulf Coastie. This girl was way down in the ANF enjoying the morning fog of the forest...

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I too love being in the forest early in the morning and the isolated roads make for a nice drive with a cup of coffee...

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My intention this particular morning was to hike in a pitcher plant bog near the settlement of Sumatra. Nothing like this sight---hundreds of big trumpet pitchers Sarracenia flava with many of the variant form known as rubricorpora growing in amongst the regular green form.

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The red form (hence the name 'rubricorpora') is impressive and I've found that they vary from plant to plant in color.

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They are big brutes too. The photo below was taking at my hip height...

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A grouping of the far more commonly seen green trumpets.

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The ground here is squishy with numerous rivulets running through the area. This photo was taken in a more open section of the bog and you can that the entire place is crawling with carnivorous plants. All around my boot are specimens of pink sundew, Drosera capillaris parrot-head pitcher plants, Sarracenia psittacina and Chapman's butterwort, Pinguicula planifolia.

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Up close, pink sundew. The little droplets of sweet 'dew' make tiny insects stick to the plant---while they are digested. How cool!

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This is the butterwort. The broad leaves are also sticky and they trap insects like fly paper to themselves.

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And then the parrot-head pitcher plant. In this species the entrance to the plant is under the hooded 'parrot-head'. The color on some specimens is simply gorgeous.

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It is said that in these bogs the plant biodiversity can be up to an astounding 40 species per square meter. And it seems that many of the plants are carnivorous too...

He got me! A Venus fly trap, Dionaea muscipula grabs my pinky.

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"Mrs. May, we found what was left of the body of your husband out in the bog. Apparently he had been captured in a fly trap..."

The color of the Venus fly trap varies with the amount of sunlight they get.

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Venus fly traps send up these nice clusters of white flowers...


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But not all of the plants are bug (people) eaters. This little orchid, the rose pogonia, is pretty common and they were just about finished flowering for the season last week..

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Not exactly sure what this flower is. Notice the metallic emerald green leaf-cutter bee on it?

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Look at the notches the bee has removed for her nest.
Ze Frank would say, "This is how the leaf cutter bee do..."

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What a neat break in the top of the this ancient pond cypress! I wonder how long ago this happened?

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A couple of other cool pond cypress surrounded by equally cool pitcher plants.

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Moving back towards my car I passed through a burned over section of the forest and found this black racer that had just emerged from his hole. His tail appears blurry in the photo as he was vibrating in as a defense measure. In dried leaves, the vibrating tail sounds like a rattlesnakes tail.

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He immediately dashed back down into his hole...

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This deer skull got a little singed by the flames.

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At another bog I encountered some marbled top pitcher plants, Sarracenia leucophylla. Each one is different.
Notice the insect trapping hairs on this first one ?

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A milkweed of some sort.

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And then it was time to go canoeing.

At my usual outfitters place. Hmm, I guess I'm not taking this jacket with me today...

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The river was loaded with these little Barbour's map turtles, Graptemys barbouri that had recently emerged from the nests they had overwintered in.

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I caught just a few for some quick photos. Otherwise I just admired them as I drifted past. All of the other basking turtle species were out in big numbers that day too.

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Here is a female alligator snapping turtle's drag trail as she came out of the river to nest the night before.
I found a pair of tracks (an out of the water track and a back into the water track a short distance away) that had been made by two female alligator snappers the

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It had been a good day. But after hiking for three hours and then canoeing for nearly seven hours I was beat!

Yet another female box turtle. This girl was out in the evening. Notice the mosquitoes on her back. Even the box turtles are plagued by skeeters in the ANF.

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The Florida panhandle area--or Panhandular Florida as Dick Bartlett calls it--has everything I could ever want.

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Even the famous Wooly-boogers occur here. This mounted specimen has been in a local convenience store for over thirty years that I know of. Like skunk apes and the Sasquatch, they are only occasionally encountered. I think this specimen was a road kill.

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Until next time,
Carl
MCHerper
Posts: 443
Joined: September 22nd, 2012, 6:13 pm

Re: Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by MCHerper »

Carl,

Awesome post! I didn't know that Venus' flytraps occurred in the Florida Panhandle, I thought that it was only North and South Carolina. I hope to make it to ANF one day to see these plants (and herps) in person. Thanks for sharing.

MC
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Stohlgren
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Location: Athens, GA (Columbia, MO)

Re: Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by Stohlgren »

Nice stuff, Carl. Carnivorous plants are awesome. Your unknown flower is a Rhexia species. That is all I know.
Carl D. May wrote:Not exactly sure what this flower is. Notice the metallic emerald green leaf-cutter bee on it?

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Jim Godwin
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Joined: June 3rd, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by Jim Godwin »

Rhexia alifanus a meadow beauty. This species is common in the bogs along the Gulf Coast.
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Noah M
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Re: Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by Noah M »

Cool stuff man. Flowers and carnivorous plants are neat things. Yet another reason to head up to the panhandle soon.
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mtratcliffe
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Location: Mt Laurel, NJ

Re: Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by mtratcliffe »

And why haven't you turned up a photo of a live Wooly-booger yet, hmm?

The meadows with the pitcher plants look fantastic. It must be a surreal experience to drive through that forest on a foggy morning. I also enjoy the hatchling Barbour's Map Turtles - were the little ones just out in the open basking?
Carl D. May
Posts: 362
Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 4:17 am

Re: Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by Carl D. May »

mtratcliffe wrote:And why haven't you turned up a photo of a live Wooly-booger yet, hmm?

The meadows with the pitcher plants look fantastic. It must be a surreal experience to drive through that forest on a foggy morning. I also enjoy the hatchling Barbour's Map Turtles - were the little ones just out in the open basking?

Surreal is the exact word I would use for the experience of driving through the ANF early on a foggy morning and especially so when you come upon a savanna area loaded with big trumpets.
Tamara D. McConnell
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Re: Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by Tamara D. McConnell »

Thank you for the vicarious ANF outing, Carl. The little map turtles are wonderful.
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Berkeley Boone
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Joined: June 8th, 2010, 4:02 am

Re: Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by Berkeley Boone »

What a great post! I love Sarracenia- especially those big ol' flava!

Thanks for taking us along with you.
--Berkeley
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BillMcGighan
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Location: Unicoi, TN

Re: Lost in (carnivorous plant) Paradise

Post by BillMcGighan »

Thanks, Carl, for yet another look into the magic of that region.
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