Post by pitcherplantman on Jun 19, 2015 14:24:08 GMT -5
I want to tell you all a story about an area I once knew 40 some odd years ago in south eastern NC. Now this area is a known location and still has plants growing there if you can find them, but this particular area was located down a dirt road in which one had to park their vehicle, then one had to walk approximately 100 feet towards a wall of brush, then turn right thru same brush. Even before one got to the right turn, the ground was carpeted with Flytraps, so many, that one couldn't help but step on them. Once one went thru the wall of brush, it opened up into an approximately 1/2 acre wonderland: a NC pocosin. Located in this pocosin were 3 types of Flava: Flava Typica, Coppertop and Maxima, Rubra Rubra, S. P. Venosa, S. Minor and all manner of hybrids. The Flava's were so huge and thick that one specimen had so many leaves it would have fit in a metal washtub, with pitchers at least close to 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall, and there were many specimens located there just like that. The Rubra's were tall with some specimens standing almost 18 to 24 inches and the Purps were just as large. Minor was in abundance with many hybrids of all species, and the ground was carpeted in Flytraps, Sundews and Butterworts. There were several different types of terrestrial Orchids as well. Like I said, it was a marvelous place and had to be seen to be believed. I took my wife there several times and we would just sit for as long as the Deerflies and Mosquitos let you and just marvel at the place. I even still have a bottle I found there dating back to either the 40's or 50's when someone else had found the place and dropped the bottle on the ground. Well I went back approximately 5 years ago and when I arrived I found a tree farm. No Flytraps, Sundews or Butterworts were seen and all the pitcherplants were long gone. A site that had many large and old Flava's, large Rubra's and Purps and a large stand of Minor...all gone.
Down the road a ways I found some Lutea but they were being screened out by brush and would soon follow their confederates into extirpation. Alas, in the same 40 year time span, I have seen the same thing happen to many sites ranging from New York thru the Carolina's, down thru Georgia and well into Florida, and I guess my point is, if you know a place like that that is magical, if you haven't been back to it in a long time, don't go back. You'll be sorely disappointed and it's always better to remember it the way it once was, rather then what it is now.
Down the road a ways I found some Lutea but they were being screened out by brush and would soon follow their confederates into extirpation. Alas, in the same 40 year time span, I have seen the same thing happen to many sites ranging from New York thru the Carolina's, down thru Georgia and well into Florida, and I guess my point is, if you know a place like that that is magical, if you haven't been back to it in a long time, don't go back. You'll be sorely disappointed and it's always better to remember it the way it once was, rather then what it is now.