S. alata Eastern MS (stunning red forms, etc)
Jan 4, 2019 14:27:02 GMT -5
calen, DirtyDivisions, and 5 more like this
Post by meizzwang on Jan 4, 2019 14:27:02 GMT -5
Sarracenia alata is perhaps the weediest of the species! It has one of the largest ranges of any of the species, and has an ability to colonize areas relatively quickly. Well, that was before most of the habitat was destroyed, now it's a rarity and surprisingly hard to find in certain places in the wild. Much of what's left are relic populations of a once large population that stretched perhaps hundreds of square miles. Little islands of habitat are turning into forests, and much of what is left is getting shaded out. It's really sad to see bumper to bumper traffic and densely packed structures surrounding many of these sites, it wasn't that busy 4 years ago!
Typically, when you look at Sarracenia species, there are many populations with a unique look to them: as an example, many hardcore enthusiasts here can distinguish a washington Co, AL leucophylla from a Baldwin Co, AL leucophylla. On the other hand, I was surprised to see that alatas in Eastern Louisiana look very similar to some alata populations in Eastern MS (roughly 100 miles away from each other). On the other hand, if you go up into Stone Co, MS, these alatas are quite distinctive, yet they're pretty close to many other populations in eastern MS.
Back to this Eastern MS site: it was extensive yet FLOODED! There are surprisingly lots of large parcels of open Savannah in Eastern MS, but very few support CP's: lots of them I visited were just super tall grasslands and for whatever reason, I couldn't find a single carnivore. This site was different: the entire field had S. alata, Droseras, utricularias, and S. psittacina, but the field was very sparsely populated.
What really intrigued me about this site is that it appeared to have not been burned in recent times: there were no signs of burnt trees, burnt branches, or anything like that! That doesn't mean that it hasn't been burned, but it certainly hasn't been burned recently. Sites that haven't been burned in a while are a bit more dangerous: I saw 2 cottonmouth snakes here (poised and ready to pounce) and was about a foot away from stepping into a hornet's nest hidden in the tall grass. I'm actually way more afraid of the hornets than the snakes, at least the snakes warn you they're close by. Well managed sites that are consistently burned don't often have such dangers, it's usually the places that are truly wild where you have to keep an eye out for biting animals.
Despite the lack of burning, this site appeared very healthy overall! Shrubs and brush were surprisingly thin, but maybe that's because the whole site was under water! I saw countless crayfish everywhere!
Okay, I'm done talking your ear off, on with the photos!
Here's the firebreak road, all of which was submerged in water. It was mudy and mucky, it really sucked walking through this site, which was gigantic. Let's not mention how dang hot it was. After reading Calen's field trip report on this forum and feeling jealous, I no longer feel jealous of his experiences: I also got my boot sucked off! (sorry guys, inside joke):
Did I mention this site was LOADED with FROWNAX™ aka Smilax aka thorny vine from hell? It ripped my legs up really bad:
Thank GOD there were no fire ants here, simply because there was no land that wasn't above water. Of course, I didn't pay attention to hostility of this environment as I was in straight up bliss! You only think about it afterwards, when it hurts to put on a sock. I mean, look at how beautiful this site is!
I mean OMG beauty! Nature took so long to make this:
A lot of the alatas were either just starting to form fall pitchers or looked like they had already gone dormant without producing fall pitchers. To recap, it's important not to read into this too much. It doesn't mean the plants are unhealthy, they might have just had a tough grow season. A good amount of plants did have new pitchers or at least had new pitchers emerging:
But some were definitely in a state of funk:
So where are the stunning red plants? Surprisingly, they were incredibly hard to find and it took hours of stomping through this muddy, mucky, biting insect/animal infested field to find them. But I got pics of them! yes, we will discuss them in detail. To be continued, so stay tuned.....
Typically, when you look at Sarracenia species, there are many populations with a unique look to them: as an example, many hardcore enthusiasts here can distinguish a washington Co, AL leucophylla from a Baldwin Co, AL leucophylla. On the other hand, I was surprised to see that alatas in Eastern Louisiana look very similar to some alata populations in Eastern MS (roughly 100 miles away from each other). On the other hand, if you go up into Stone Co, MS, these alatas are quite distinctive, yet they're pretty close to many other populations in eastern MS.
Back to this Eastern MS site: it was extensive yet FLOODED! There are surprisingly lots of large parcels of open Savannah in Eastern MS, but very few support CP's: lots of them I visited were just super tall grasslands and for whatever reason, I couldn't find a single carnivore. This site was different: the entire field had S. alata, Droseras, utricularias, and S. psittacina, but the field was very sparsely populated.
What really intrigued me about this site is that it appeared to have not been burned in recent times: there were no signs of burnt trees, burnt branches, or anything like that! That doesn't mean that it hasn't been burned, but it certainly hasn't been burned recently. Sites that haven't been burned in a while are a bit more dangerous: I saw 2 cottonmouth snakes here (poised and ready to pounce) and was about a foot away from stepping into a hornet's nest hidden in the tall grass. I'm actually way more afraid of the hornets than the snakes, at least the snakes warn you they're close by. Well managed sites that are consistently burned don't often have such dangers, it's usually the places that are truly wild where you have to keep an eye out for biting animals.
Despite the lack of burning, this site appeared very healthy overall! Shrubs and brush were surprisingly thin, but maybe that's because the whole site was under water! I saw countless crayfish everywhere!
Okay, I'm done talking your ear off, on with the photos!
Here's the firebreak road, all of which was submerged in water. It was mudy and mucky, it really sucked walking through this site, which was gigantic. Let's not mention how dang hot it was. After reading Calen's field trip report on this forum and feeling jealous, I no longer feel jealous of his experiences: I also got my boot sucked off! (sorry guys, inside joke):
Did I mention this site was LOADED with FROWNAX™ aka Smilax aka thorny vine from hell? It ripped my legs up really bad:
Thank GOD there were no fire ants here, simply because there was no land that wasn't above water. Of course, I didn't pay attention to hostility of this environment as I was in straight up bliss! You only think about it afterwards, when it hurts to put on a sock. I mean, look at how beautiful this site is!
I mean OMG beauty! Nature took so long to make this:
A lot of the alatas were either just starting to form fall pitchers or looked like they had already gone dormant without producing fall pitchers. To recap, it's important not to read into this too much. It doesn't mean the plants are unhealthy, they might have just had a tough grow season. A good amount of plants did have new pitchers or at least had new pitchers emerging:
But some were definitely in a state of funk:
So where are the stunning red plants? Surprisingly, they were incredibly hard to find and it took hours of stomping through this muddy, mucky, biting insect/animal infested field to find them. But I got pics of them! yes, we will discuss them in detail. To be continued, so stay tuned.....