Weekend trip to the Green Swamp, North Carolina

[jfowler]

The original purpose for this trip to the Green Swamp of North Carolina was two-fold: 1. to meet up with two of my photography buddies, and 2. to photograph orchids and carnivorous plants. It turned out to be a successful trip.

The Green Swamp area covers much of Brunswick County, North Carolina. One can only imagine what it must have looked like in its prime, before it was almost destroyed in the late 19th and early 20th century by the harvesting of the plentiful longleaf pine for naval stores, resin, and turpentine.

Currently, it is just a shadow of its former self. Even so, there are pockets of incredible richness of rare flora. Of course, it is well-known for its large colonies of Venus fly-traps, but it also harbors many other species of carnivorous plants and native orchids (my other passion).

Here are a few of the many interesting plants we found this past weekend:

05-24-2010 Sundews: Drosera capillaris (far left), Drosera intermedia (far right), putative hybrid between the two (center)


05-24-2010 Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa


05-24-2010 Sarracenia flava var. ornata


05-24-2010 Saracenia flava var. cuprea


05-24-2010 Sarracenia flava var. flava


05-24-2010 Sarracenia flava var. cuprea


05-24-2010 Dionaea muscipula (typical scene in local ditches!) This image covers about five feet in length...


05-24-2010 Rhynchospora latifolia (giant whitetop sedge)


05-24-2010 Polygala lutea (orange milkwort)


05-24-2010 Asclepias lanceolata (lanceleaf milkweed)


05-24-2010 Asclepias longifolia (longleaf milkweed)


05-24-2010 Pogonia ophioglossoides (snakemouth orchid)


05-24-2010 Cleistes bifaria (smaller rosebud orchid)


05-24-2010 Cleisted divaricata (rosebud orchid)


05-24-2010 Spiranthes praecox (grassleaf ladies'-tresses orchid)


To see other images of the trip, click on:

tinyurl.com/2au3jjl

[jeff]

magnifique report

no ping ?

jeff

[jfowler]

Thanks Jeff! The Pings are done for the year. We did see two Pinguicula lutea flowers, but I did not photograph them on this trip.

[Randy Zerr]

excellent photos!

[meadowview]

Hi Jim:

Sure looks like you have the hybrid of Drosera intermedia and D. capillaris. We discovered this cross years ago in Pender County, NC and wrote an article in CPN on it with description of some of the diagnostic features.

Sincerely,

Phil Sheridan
Meadowview

[jfowler]

Thanks, Phil. Sometimes when you see a plant in the wild, it's difficult to decide whether it's a hybrid or not. It becomes somewhat easier when they are this close together. This was in Brunswick County - sharing a border with Pender County, North Carolina.