Sarracenias, etc. Walton County, FL
Dec 7, 2014 3:55:19 GMT -5
stevebooth, goodkoalie, and 1 more like this
Post by meizzwang on Dec 7, 2014 3:55:19 GMT -5
It was 102F (39C), no rain in sight, and just beyond belief hotter than hot! The humidity was unbearable, but somehow I convinced Damon and Axel to bake in full sun for a few hours.
This site had some of the best looking S. flava variants I have ever seen, although unfortunately, most of the traps were already burnt out by the time we got to visit them. Ornatas, solid red throats, rugelii's, rubricorporas, and wanna be atropurpureas all lived in this last little pocket of Sarracenia habitat. Sadly, everywhere around us, there were hotels, shops, industrial buildings, and homes. 2 blocks away, there used to be a huge site filled with similar plants, but today, it's an Ace hardware and a parking lot behind a restaurant. Approximately half of this bog that we visited was recently destroyed and turned into a shopping center. Although this site still exists as of today, it's future is rather dubious.
I think the saddest aspect of this site is just how unique it is. A huge portion of it is flooded year round, and I think the temporary drought that was going on at the time of our visit made it temporarily accessible to us. Despite no signs of burning in a very long time, the site seemed to be somewhat open probably due to excessive flooding.
We were shocked to see dead fresh water fish at this site! The bog must have dried up a few weeks before our visit:
Hard to tell from this photo since all the water dried up, but the Sarracenias were growing on the edge of this dried up pond: :
Axel and Damon of California Carnivores standing in the middle of the dried up pond:
Damon ducking under a branch...looks like he's running from the cops, haha:
Habitat shot:
Areas that didn't flood for most of the year had plants here and there. This field would normally have quite a few Sarracenia , except it floods for most of the year. In this particular shot, Sarracenia were only found on the perimeter of the "dried pond" :
This area had more plants because it didn't flood as much:
Damon and Axel snapping some shots of the plants:
Photos of all the diversity at this site to come!
This site had some of the best looking S. flava variants I have ever seen, although unfortunately, most of the traps were already burnt out by the time we got to visit them. Ornatas, solid red throats, rugelii's, rubricorporas, and wanna be atropurpureas all lived in this last little pocket of Sarracenia habitat. Sadly, everywhere around us, there were hotels, shops, industrial buildings, and homes. 2 blocks away, there used to be a huge site filled with similar plants, but today, it's an Ace hardware and a parking lot behind a restaurant. Approximately half of this bog that we visited was recently destroyed and turned into a shopping center. Although this site still exists as of today, it's future is rather dubious.
I think the saddest aspect of this site is just how unique it is. A huge portion of it is flooded year round, and I think the temporary drought that was going on at the time of our visit made it temporarily accessible to us. Despite no signs of burning in a very long time, the site seemed to be somewhat open probably due to excessive flooding.
We were shocked to see dead fresh water fish at this site! The bog must have dried up a few weeks before our visit:
Hard to tell from this photo since all the water dried up, but the Sarracenias were growing on the edge of this dried up pond: :
Axel and Damon of California Carnivores standing in the middle of the dried up pond:
Damon ducking under a branch...looks like he's running from the cops, haha:
Habitat shot:
Areas that didn't flood for most of the year had plants here and there. This field would normally have quite a few Sarracenia , except it floods for most of the year. In this particular shot, Sarracenia were only found on the perimeter of the "dried pond" :
This area had more plants because it didn't flood as much:
Damon and Axel snapping some shots of the plants:
Photos of all the diversity at this site to come!