Video Saturday: Pinhook Bog, Indiana

Recently, I learned about Pinhook Bog, Indiana's only kettle bog and a National Natural Landmark. As part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, it forms part of the interconnected ring of carnivorous plant habitats around the Great Lakes. It's quite fascinating for me, even from faraway New Hampshire, to learn about this semi-unique habitat, the kettle bog.

Sarracenia purpurea
Drosera intermedia

Here in New Hampshire, we also have several kettle bogs. (I visited Spruce Hole Bog earlier this summer, and still need to do a write up on it). Kettle bogs are formed where a large chunk of ice separated from a larger glacier and remained, slowly melting, as the glacier retreated. The ice chunk is typically buried in till or drift and is the primary, initial source of water for what will become a bog. At first, the newly-formed lake may hold non-bog plants, but, as time goes on, the only real water exchange is through collection via runoff from the (typically) steep, sloping sides of the depression forming the lake. As a consequence, the water becomes more stagnant, sphagnum and bog plants take hold, and a floating mat of sphagnum eventually forms.

Sarracenia purpurea

I was somewhat surprised to learn that, not only does Drosera intermedia thrive here, but Sarracenia purpurea thrives here as well. I suppose that should not be too surprising, but kettle bogs are, generally, more difficult to access than traditional bogs, meaning they sometimes have a lower biodiversity than traditional bogs. That is obviously not the case with Pinhook, which contains all of the following carnivores:

• Spoonleaf sundew (Drosera intermedia) 
• Round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) 
• Purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea) 
• Horned bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta) 
• Hidden-fruited bladderwort (Utricularia geminiscapa)

For any of you in the Indiana area, Pinhook can only be accessed by guided tour or, rarely, by "open house." I would recommend a visit.