Nature Study Guide:

Venus's Flytrap: Dionaea muscipula

Flowers: White, May- June

Height: Prostrate to 3 inches

Habitat: Bogs; moist, sandy areas; pinelands

Range: Found only in Southeastern North Carolina and Northeastern South Carolina.

Traps: Photosynthetic leaves that snap shut when at least two of the six tactile hairs on the upper surface of the leaf is disturbed. The prey is digested by enzymes secreted by the plant.

Status: Special Concern

Trumpets: Sarracenia flava, a.k.a. Yellow Pitcher Plant

Flowers: Yellow, April- May

Habitat: Wet pinelands, bogs

Flowers: Yellow, umbrella shaped flowers on a leafless stalk; March- April

Leaves: Hollow tubes 1 ft.- 3 ft. tall with a hood that arches over the opening at the top of the tube; color- yellow- green to red. Often veined with a maroon constriction between the pitcher and the hood. The hollow tubes fill with water, insects and other small organisms that enter the tube, drown. Prey is broken down by bacteria.

Status: Special Concern

Sweet Pitcher Plant: Sarracenia rubra

Flowers: Maroon, umbrella shaped on a leafless stalk; April- May

Leaves: Similar to Trumpets, hollow tubes 8- 18 inches with a hood that arches over the opening at the top of the tube.; color- greenish- red.

Habitat: Shrub bogs and savannahs

Status: Special Concern

Purple Pitcher Plant: Sarracenia purpurea, Northern Pitcher Plant

Flowers: Purplish- red, umbrella shaped, April-May.

Leaves: Rosette of bronzy, reddish- green, hollow, curved leaves, 4- 12 inches long with a flared terminal lip. The lipped pitcher like leaves collect water. The inner surface of the leaves are covered with downward pointing hairs. Insects attracted to the water have difficulty crawling upward and drown. Prey is broken down by bacterial action. Status: Special Concern

Southern Pitcher Plants: Sarracenia purpurea venosa

Flowers: Purplish- red, umbrella shaped, Apr.-May.

Leaves: Rosette of hollow, curved leaves, 4- 12 inches long with a flared terminal lip. Colors range from green in shade to red or maroon in full sun. Usually found with varying degrees of maroon variegation. The lipped pitcher like leaves collect water. The inner surface of the leaves are covered with downward pointing hairs. Insects attracted to the water have difficulty crawling upward and drown. Prey is broken down by bacterial action. Similar to purple pitcher plants.

Status: Special Concern

Parrot Pitcher Plants: Sarracenia psitticina

Flowers: Purplish- red, umbrella shaped, Apr.-May.

Leaves: Rosette of hollow, curved leaves, 4- 12 inches long with a flared terminal lip. Colors range from green in shade to red or maroon in full sun. Usually found with varying degrees of maroon variegation. Has many prostrate "pitchers" with hoked lips like a parrot's bill. The lipped pitcher like leaves collect water. Insects attracted to the water have difficulty crawling out and drown. Prey is broken down by bacterial action. Similar to purple pitcher plants.

Status: Special Concern

Violet Butterwort: Pinguicula caerulea

Height: 2- 6 inches

Flowers; white to deep violet, Apr.- May.

Leaves; Yellow- green in a basal rosette. Glands on the surface of the leaves secrete a sticky fluid. Insects stick to surface and are digested by enzymes.

Horned Bladderwort: Utricularia cornuta

Height; 2- 12 inches

Flowers; Yellow, June- Sept.

Leaves; subterranean bladders that suck in minute insects.

Habitat; Wet, sandy, muddy or peaty shores; bogs

Only terrestrial bladderwort, all others are aquatic.

Round- leaved Sundew: Drosera rotundifolia

Flowers: White, June- Aug.

Habitat: Bogs

Leaves: Red basal rosette covered with glandular hairs that excrete a sticky substance. Insects stick to surface. Enzymes digest prey.

Similar to Drosera intermedia: the leaves are Drosera rotundifolia lie flat against the ground while the leaves of Drosera intermedia stand up. Both species are found at Camp Pretty Pond.

Other similar sundews include Drosera brevifolia, the short leaved sundew which looks a lot like D. rotundifolia only smaller and with wedge shaped leaves, and Drosera capillaris which has pink flowers.

Thread- leaved Sundew: Drosera filiformis

Flowers; Lavender- rose, one- sided elongated cluster on a leafless stalk, curved at tip. June- Sept.

Leaves; Up to 12 inches, covered with stalked glands that secrete a sticky substance.

Other Interesting Plants:

Orange Milkwort: Polgala lutea

Height 6- 12 inches

Flowers: Orange, Apr.- Oct.

Habitat: Damp sandy or peaty soil.

Rose- Crested Orchid:Pogonia ophioglossoides

Flowers: Pink, May- June

Ht.- <1’

Habitat: Found in bogs, on savannahs, and in ditches.

Also called Rose Pagonia

Rosebud Orchid: Cleistes divaricate

A small wild orchid that blooms in April.

Flower: 2- 3" long; two fused, lavender upper petals and darker, slightly fringed lip.

Leaves: single basal leaf and single leathery oblong leaf.

Habitat: Savannahs and damp Pine Barrens.

Dwarf Iris: Iris verna

Height 3- 4 inches

Flowers: Violet with orange band on the sepals, March- Apr.

Habitat: Open woods.

Stinging Nettle: Cnidoscolus stimulosus

low growing

Flowers: White, March- Aug.

Habitat: Sandy fields.

Endangered or Threatened Bird Species:

Red Cockaded Woodpecker: Picoides borealis

Length: 8 1/2 inches

Color: Zebra backed, black cap, white cheek. Males have a tiny red cockade.

Habitat: Open pine woodlands.

Nest: Old long leaf pines, especially those that are infected with a fungus that makes the wood soft.

Status: Endangered

Bald Eagle: Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Length; 30- 43 inches

Markings; White head, white tail, massive yellow beak

Food; Mostly fish

Status; Threatened

Justice, William S. & Ritchie Bell. Wild Flowers Of North Carolina. The University Of North Carolina Press:Chapel Hill, 1968.

Niering, Wiliam A. & Nancy C. Olmstead. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region.  Chanticleer Press: New York, 1979. Click on book cover to purchase from Amazon.com.

Western Region

Peterson, Roger Tory. A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America.  Houghton Mifflin Co.:Boston, 1980. Click on the book cover to purchase from Amazon.com.

Western Birds

Pietropaolo, James & Patricia. Carnivorous Plants of the World. Timber Press: Portland, 1986.

Gentle, Victor. Bladderworts: Trapdoors to Oblivion.

Gentle, Victor. Butterworts: Greasy Cups of Death.

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