Sarracenia in Baldwin County, Alabama

[Christian]

Hi,

one of the nicest populations of S. leucophylla we saw was at the Splinter Hill Bog in Alabama. It's for sure one of the best carnivorous plants sites i have been so far. There are hundreds of S. leucophylla as well as other Sarracenia and some Drosera growing. I hope you don't mind me posting that many pictures.

[Christian]

[Christian]

Christian

[coline]

Wow incredible set of photos as always!

[Michael]

Christian - thanks for sharing these great photos from Splinter Hill. I think you are seeing the outcomes of some great and consistent conservation work. The ICPS has partnered with The Nature Conservancy to help support conservation work, such as prescribed burns, for a number of years.

For anyone who would like to help support this conservation work you can always donate funds through the ICPS website - you don't have to be an ICPS member to donate.

Please consider making a donation at icps.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=301&club_id=203829

If you have any questions please let me know!

Mike

[soniawild]

I wonder if one day i can see them live...my dream

[tanukimo]

Amazing photographs! Someone should do something about those Exyra moths though. It pains me to see an already at-risk population of plants facing threats like that. I hope to someday be able to see carnivorous plants in the wild.

[bluemax]

Wonderful photos, Christian. When I see you have created a thread I get prepared for rare goodies.

[sflynn]

Oct 24, 2013 7:33:18 GMT tanukimo said:

Amazing photographs! Someone should do something about those Exyra moths though. It pains me to see an already at-risk population of plants facing threats like that. I hope to someday be able to see carnivorous plants in the wild.

tanukimo- Exyra moths are natural part of the southern pitcher plant bogs, and the only control is regular controlled burns, which i am sure is already being done at Splinter hill. The moths do not give any direct benefit to the plants; but they do not normally kill the plants at a habitat that is regularly burned. The moths may even support a whole ecosystem that we are unaware of; there by actually benefiting the plants and habitat. I agree that they make the plants look unsightly to look at, but that should not be the only reason to want to get rid of them. Somebody should do a study to see the amount of harm they actually do to the individual plants and total population of plants.

[tanukimo]

Well according to this article (http://www.jstor.org/stable/20491336) Exyra moths seem to be correlated with decreased growth and flowering. They prevent the plants from catching insects and make them put more energy into making pitchers. I don't see how this would benefit the plants at all, especially given that most of the wild populations are threatened. The really annoying thing is that they only attack Sarracenia pitchers, it seems, and they do much more damage than say, aphids or mealybugs would.

[sflynn]

I am not saying they directly benefit the plants themselves but rather the bog community as a whole. i have watched birds literally fly from pitcher to pitcher catching the moths around the pitcher mouth, i have also seen birds open the already infested pitcher and remove the larvae. Lizards, spiders and frogs find them tasty as well.

I agree they can be harmful to pitcher plants, as i have seen populations of S. leocophylla here in NW Fl decline do to them. But after a burn many of the moths are destroyed, and the plants quickly return to there former size. At a place with regular controlled burns, they normally stay at a relatively low population level.

The only alternative control to prescribed fire i know about is the use of chemical pesticide. These would cause much more harm to the plants and environment than the moths alone.

I hope this will clarify what i am trying to say.

[tanukimo]

I see. Well if the Exyra moths have natural predators I guess their presence is more important. I wouldn't want to use pesticides on them.