Chicxulub's Nature Preserve (carnivorous plants, orchids, etc)

Chicxulub · Apr 19, 2020

Time for some pics! These are all current pics from this spring.

Parrot pitcher plants, Sarracenia pscittacina. These are a carnivorous plant. The pic of the flowers is past their peak, the petals had already fallen off. They're the color of blood.

Hooded pitcher plants, Sarracenia minor. Also a carnivorous plant.

Three months after a burn

Two weeks after a burn

Not burned, but right next to an area that was. Resprouting exactly as if it was burned

Three months after being burned

A hybrid of the above two species, the beautiful pitcher plant, Sarracenia x formosa (formosa means beautiful)

Six weeks after being burned

Yellow pitcher plants, Sarracenia flava. Also a carnivorous plant.

In situ with S. minor

And now, for some that aren't carnivores.

Calopogon barbatus, the beared grasspink. A native orchid

Severely water stressed as pictured. March was unusually dry out here.

Lady's tresses, Spiranthes praecox. A native orchid.

Polygala lutea, the orange candyroot. Can be used to make mint flavored tea. My kid used to call these Cheetos flowers.

The unfortunately named "tickseed", Coreopsis floridana. This is Florida's state wildflower.

This is the golden colicroot, Aletris lutea. This plant has a variety of medicinal uses.

Ok, ok; I guess one more carnivore lol

Hendre · Apr 19, 2020

Nice pictures! My sarracenias just shut down for winter this side, those ones look absolutely stunning though! Have you considered checking the TDS and pH of the water in the boggy areas? (I'm assuming it's wetter where they are growing)

Chicxulub · Apr 19, 2020

Hendre said:
Nice pictures! My sarracenias just shut down for winter this side, those ones look absolutely stunning though! Have you considered checking the TDS and pH of the water in the boggy areas? (I'm assuming it's wetter where they are growing)

TDS is zero. Ph typically hovers around five, as the water is always extremely tannic. The water they live in is rainwater that saturates extremely poorly drained sand with lots of organics that has an impermeable barrier (clay) anywhere from 12-72" down. When you combine the poorly drained soil with ph neutral rainwater, you get extremely acidic water due to all the tannins from various dead plant matter.

MrsE88 · Apr 21, 2020

Gorgeous!

After burning do you need to seed the area or does it just fill in naturally?

Chicxulub · Apr 21, 2020

MrsE88 said:
Gorgeous!

After burning do you need to seed the area or does it just fill in naturally?

It kills off species that are fire intolerant and fills in naturally with species that use fire as a trigger for flowering and producing seed. This is fine with me, as it is what I want to happen.

Hendre · Apr 21, 2020

Chicxulub said:
It kills off species that are fire intolerant and fills in naturally with species that use fire as a trigger for flowering and producing seed. This is fine with me, as it is what I want to happen.

Sounds like much of the fynbos on this side. Fire cycles are very important in fynbos ecosystems

Chicxulub · Apr 21, 2020

Hendre said:
Sounds like much of the fynbos on this side. Fire cycles are very important in fynbos ecosystems

Pretty much. The southeastern coastal plains where I love seems like a reasonable analog.

Chicxulub · Apr 22, 2020

This evening I managed to get some pictures of a pair of male pileated woodpeckers displaying ritualistic combat behavior to attempt to establish dominance and win the right to build a nest and court a mate.

Unfortunately, these guys are very cryptic and don't like people. I wasn't able to get closer than about 150 feet away and the pics were without a tripod as this was an opportunistic shoot, so they're really not that good.