S. minor in the wild, Franklin Co, FL
Sept 9, 2014 17:17:37 GMT -5
sunbelle, greenthumb, and 6 more like this
Post by meizzwang on Sept 9, 2014 17:17:37 GMT -5
At first, this site didn't look promising from way in the distance, and I was scratching my head/sweating profusely about dragging my friends out here in the middle of the forest on an extremely hot day only to potentially find nothing! The potholes in the road forced us to stop and walk, and when we parked, engine was so hot, the grasses under the car smelled like they were burning (damn, I didn't get insurance for the car!!). Somehow, I had to convince our group that all you have to do is hike through some very prickly palms, risk walking through a couple of hornet's nests/fire ant hills, possibly walk through some snake nests hidden in the grass that's so thick that you can't see your feet (experts informed me it's unusually "snakey" this year), run into a spider web or two (no so bad), and maybe all that hiking might pan out to something, or not.....Fortunately, all I had to say is "follow me" and everyone did!
Well, we were unusually lucky this trip, as the vast majority of my "haunches" into the deep forest actually panned out (let's not talk about getting shot at though, haha). This site wasn't a haunch, but rather a "where the heck is it?" type situation. We had no idea what we were looking for, all we knew is that something special was somewhere around here....
And then I saw what we were looking for, poking its cute hooded head out of the grass:
Mike: "NO WAY!!!! This is the minor site!!!!!" Keep in mind, I thought this was the Western most location for S. minor, but it turns out there's one slightly more west.
Damon:(pretending to be unimpressed to maintain his cool image, but was probably jumping up and down inside) "ya ya Mike, these are minors."
I admit, it didn't go down exactly like, but you get the point. Here's what the field looks like with Damon in the background. Right when we walked in, the grass was so tall, I was skeptical that anything was in it until we saw minor heads popping out. It really didn't look like Sarracenia habitat because the field was so dry, but we all know minors can grown under some dry conditions. Can you see any hooded pitcher plants?
They're actually quite hidden in the grass:
Don't ask me how to take photos, I'm just an amateur. This is how the pros do it(photo of Damon Collingsworth of California Carnivores):
Plants in this field were quite beautiful:
Some variability:
Kat and Mike found this beautiful, shapely green individual:
This one was FAT:
Same trap, different angle:
Last but not least! Love the shape and color on this one:
Well, we were unusually lucky this trip, as the vast majority of my "haunches" into the deep forest actually panned out (let's not talk about getting shot at though, haha). This site wasn't a haunch, but rather a "where the heck is it?" type situation. We had no idea what we were looking for, all we knew is that something special was somewhere around here....
And then I saw what we were looking for, poking its cute hooded head out of the grass:
Mike: "NO WAY!!!! This is the minor site!!!!!" Keep in mind, I thought this was the Western most location for S. minor, but it turns out there's one slightly more west.
Damon:(pretending to be unimpressed to maintain his cool image, but was probably jumping up and down inside) "ya ya Mike, these are minors."
I admit, it didn't go down exactly like, but you get the point. Here's what the field looks like with Damon in the background. Right when we walked in, the grass was so tall, I was skeptical that anything was in it until we saw minor heads popping out. It really didn't look like Sarracenia habitat because the field was so dry, but we all know minors can grown under some dry conditions. Can you see any hooded pitcher plants?
They're actually quite hidden in the grass:
Don't ask me how to take photos, I'm just an amateur. This is how the pros do it(photo of Damon Collingsworth of California Carnivores):
Plants in this field were quite beautiful:
Some variability:
Kat and Mike found this beautiful, shapely green individual:
This one was FAT:
Same trap, different angle:
Last but not least! Love the shape and color on this one: