Pictures of pitchers

I was finally able to get out of the Visitor’s Center today, and head out for my last chance to enjoy some pitcher plants before I leave. 

I headed for an area that I knew of that had a variety of pitcher plant blooms…red, green, yellow, and intergrades.  I truly am fascinated by these carnivorous plants.  Since the burn, there’s not much to look at here right now.

I put my knee high rubber boots on, and traipsed across to an area of great biodiversity.  It’s just off the exit ramp from a closed truck weigh station along US 90.  This area is actually not on refuge property, but it was obvious by the trampled grasses that I was not the first one to stop and appreciate this wetland area.  I’m so happy that I am here long enough to see the actual pitchers emerge.  Don’t those look like blood vessels coursing through the upper parts of the plant?

What I was hoping to find was the elusive Whitetop Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia leucophylla).   That pitcher is totally white with red veins.  I found a few examples of what I think are hybrids between the whitetops and the more common yellow and red pitcher plants.  There were only a few of these plants in the wetlands.  I’m feeling pretty happy about finding them. 

As I was walking among the blooms, I was able to watch a drama unfold.  A fly landed on one of the pitchers, and was enticed by the sweet (to it) fragrance of the pitcher.  It slowly made it’s way to the opening,…

…and crawled inside.  This plant is not fully developed yet, so the fly was able to crawl back out.  The next time it chooses a mature plant, it won’t be so lucky!  By then, the downward facing hairs will trap it inside, and the pitcher plant will consume another meal.  Kind of made me feel like Darwin today observing the survival of the fittest. 

Last night I posted pictures of these artifacts asking if anyone knew what they were.  Fonda got it correct.  They are two types of pots that were attached to the pine trees here back in the 1920’s and 30’s to harvest pine sap.  Slashes were cut in the trees, and the pots nailed in below those slashes to catch the sap.  That pine sap was then turned into turpentine, and used in the ship building industry.  Fragments of these pots can be found in the pine savannahs on the refuge, and I located two such fragments yesterday as I took my hike down the Dees Trail.   Finding things like this certainly brings history to life for me.

 

DONNA, left a comment today suggesting that I supplement my dark chocolate pecan cluster treatment for my very stiff neck with a shot of ‘Redi-Whip’.   Her idea was that I should just tilt my head back, open my mouth, and squirt a shot of whipped cream into my mouth.  Sounds like a good idea, but since the neck is so stiff, I can’t tilt my head back.  So, my question is, will that shot of whipped cream just blast out through my nose? 

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy