Throwback Thursday: Plants Near My House

Sarracenia minor

On one of the forums, I mentioned that, back when I lived in Florida, my house was a few hundred yards from a few good locations to see Sarracenia minor. I figured I'd dig up some old photos this Thursday (and more next Thursday), of plants near my house to try to share the experience of finding carnivores near your house. (As it happens, Melody over at Hooray Plants, recently went on an S. minor hunting trip of her own).

The boggy landscape

I first suspected that the area near my house might hold carnivores when I saw the range map in Schnell's Carnivorous Plants of the United States and Canada and figured that I should start looking in ditches (as the book suggests) for plants. Naturally, the boggy landscape made me more certain that this was a place that I could find some carnivores.

Up-close of a large S. minor

Boy, was I right! First, I searched the ditches of the main road outside my house, and I found a plethora of Pinguicula and dozens of sparkling Drosera. But, the best part was when I started searching the edges of the woods. Previously, the landscape had been horse farms, because not much else "could be done with the land." Apparently, that meant that horses were stabled on a savanna previously filled with S. minor!

The whole plant

There were some truly gigantic plants! Enormous plants! Plants so large that I estimated they were more than 50 years old! (I made this estimate based on the fact that, as construction proceeded on the edges of my neighborhood as the road was widened, and many S. minor were plowed under, their rhizomes were dislodged from the ground and some stretched for feet...).

S. minor among pine needles

It was shocking to me that the plants could survive, being nearly buried by pine needles. I guessed that most of them were on their last legs, but as woods were cleared for subdivisions, I'd occasionally see a new plant sprout from an old rhizome, buried deep in what used to be woods.

A grainy photograph of a small S. minor

I'll leave you all with this, slightly grainy, photograph of a small S. minor. I have some much nicer ones to show next Thursday! Come back again to see them!