finding CPs in strange places

[Randy Zerr]

In the field I've seen Sarracenia purpurea ssp venosa var. burkeii (S. rosea), Pinguicula primuliflora and Drosera intermedia growing on the bases of trees or fallen logs in creeks and ponds, D. intermedia, P. primuliflora, Sarracenia rubra ssp. gulfensis and S. leucophylla floating on water in masses.







Downed branch in the swift current of a spring fed creek, gently bobbing up and down. (Gone since Hurricane Ivan 9/04)

This one is my favorite:





I like to call this one "Drosera nikensis"

No, I did not put these sundews there, I found them just as pictured (also washed away in Hurricane Ivan) a rare species gone forever.


Does anyone else have photos of similar findings?

[Brassleaves]

I don't have any photos, but I can back you up. When I lived in SC I would find them exactly as you described. In fact the S. flava that were growing in water like aquatics were far more healthy than their land growing counterparts. With the sundews I would look anywhere the water met dry anything...tree stumps, mud, grass, etc. The S. purpurea ssp. venosa, through, were almost always in semi shaded areas growing in the live sphagnum mounds. I once found a patch of S. rubra ssp. rubra that was literally a floating island of pitchers. I could bob it up and down in the water. It was quite large and attached somehow to a nearby tree, so it survived the hurricane season you referred to. Would be a shame to see it go. The pitchers were 2' tall.

[rsivertsen]

D. intermedia grows like this all over the NJ Pine Barrens, and forms large floating bushes that catch damsel and dragon flies as they crash into them trying to grab some of the smaller flies that hover around them. - Rich

[Brian Barnes]

Randy, i definitely think you have a new cultivar there! ;D
The shoe pic is great...
Happy Growing,
Brian.

[stevestewart]

Randy,

Great pictures!
My guess is that the Drosera in the tennis shoe dropped from a tree limb, landed on the joggers head and worked it's way down. In the western US they worry about mountain lions but in Florida it's the plants that will get you!
Watch out for the Smilax! They aren't even carnivorous, they just grab you because they can.

Take care,
Steven Stewart