Labor Day in Conecuh National Forest
Sept 9, 2015 14:11:26 GMT -5
meizzwang, stevebooth, and 9 more like this
Post by rhizomatous on Sept 9, 2015 14:11:26 GMT -5
Hey everyone! On Labor Day I was able to take a trip down to Blackwater River State Forest and Conecuh National Forest to see some of the Sarracenia there. I don't think I've seen a field trip report report from Conecuh on this forum.
Conecuh is right on the Alabama-Florida border, and along with Blackwater River State Forest, it makes an almost contiguous patch of forest in that part of the country. These managed longleaf forests are prime habitat for Sarracenia. It would be awesome to take a day or more and just explore these forests looking for low spots that might contain Sarracenia.
Crawford bog is THE spot when you talk to people about pitcher plants in Conecuh. I found leucos, psittacinas, and flavas there. Interestingly, even though Blackwater and all of the amazing color variants of S. flava are less than 30 miles away, the only flavas were var. rugelii. I saw two of the hundreds of flavas that showed some sign of red tubes, but it honestly could have been a result of mechanical damage. I think the lack of rosea at this site coupled with the lack of red tubes or even ornatas lends credence to the hypothesis that backcrossing with S. rosea led to the red tube flavas.
Anyway, here are some pictures. The flavas were fading, but they still looked pretty good.
Between the flavas and all the wildflowers, this place was so yellow! The purple blazing stars (Liatris spp.) really looked great against the yellow.
Some really great leucos. It looks like they've sent up fall traps, but none of them were that big.
Snake trap in the distance. My guess is they're looking for Eastern Indigo snakes, which had been extirpated from Alabama but have since been reintroduced to the forest.
And a few xmoorei
I think the one below may be my favorite hybrid of the whole trip. I really like the creamy green color of the upper part of the pitcher.
And a few individual flavas
The above pitcher above from a distance.
And me, repping the Sarracenia Forum!
Conecuh is right on the Alabama-Florida border, and along with Blackwater River State Forest, it makes an almost contiguous patch of forest in that part of the country. These managed longleaf forests are prime habitat for Sarracenia. It would be awesome to take a day or more and just explore these forests looking for low spots that might contain Sarracenia.
Crawford bog is THE spot when you talk to people about pitcher plants in Conecuh. I found leucos, psittacinas, and flavas there. Interestingly, even though Blackwater and all of the amazing color variants of S. flava are less than 30 miles away, the only flavas were var. rugelii. I saw two of the hundreds of flavas that showed some sign of red tubes, but it honestly could have been a result of mechanical damage. I think the lack of rosea at this site coupled with the lack of red tubes or even ornatas lends credence to the hypothesis that backcrossing with S. rosea led to the red tube flavas.
Anyway, here are some pictures. The flavas were fading, but they still looked pretty good.
Between the flavas and all the wildflowers, this place was so yellow! The purple blazing stars (Liatris spp.) really looked great against the yellow.
Some really great leucos. It looks like they've sent up fall traps, but none of them were that big.
Snake trap in the distance. My guess is they're looking for Eastern Indigo snakes, which had been extirpated from Alabama but have since been reintroduced to the forest.
And a few xmoorei
I think the one below may be my favorite hybrid of the whole trip. I really like the creamy green color of the upper part of the pitcher.
And a few individual flavas
The above pitcher above from a distance.
And me, repping the Sarracenia Forum!