We decided to take a week-end trip to the Panhandle to see if we could find Pitcher Plants. We were not disappointed! [Gallery] Here I am standing along Highway 65 in the Apalachicola National Forest…
Those are Trumpet-Leaf Pitcher Plants that grew and bloomed between pretty severe mowing and spraying (see below). Here’s a closeup of the flower and insect-trapping pitcher…
Next we drove to Wright Lake and took a long hike. We were surprised to see Lupines blooming under the pine trees…
There were many burned patches in various states of recovery. In one we found this interesting flower. It starts out all white and then “burns up” with purple (or perhaps the other way round?). Adapted to follow fire into cleared areas I think.
There were little clusters of pitcher plants here and there, and then we found this large group in a damp semi-open area…
The next day we went back for a second look along Highway 65 and bumped into Tim (not his real name) who is somewhat of an expert on carnivorous plants. He helped us find these beautiful Purple Pitcher Plant blooms…
Unfortunately whatever entity maintains that bit of highway is very aggressive with spraying herbicides to keep the growth down. There were dried up and dead pitcher plants in abundance. <frown> Tim said he had been coming to the area since 1971 and there used to be magnificent spring displays along this road. The flowers above were down in the bushes beyond the spraying.
After that we poked around a bit back in the woods but didn’t find any more pitchers. I did find another type of carnivorous plant, the Sundew…
There were thousands in a “borrow pit” area. No chlorophyll but lots of little hairs each with a drop of sticky glue. You can see the remains of a few ants if you look close. There was also this strange plant, I have no idea what it is…
Looks like a cross between a fern and a sundew!
A week later we visited Buck Island Pond and saw a third species, the Hooded Pitcher Plant…
There are more photos of a fourth species, the White-Top Pitcher Plant, I took in 2013 in a separate gallery.
Enjoy!
