Day 2 – Carolina Coastal Plain – Orchids and Carnivorous Plants in the Croatan National Forest — 2015-08-15

I have to chuckle a bit over what happened to me when I got to Jacksonville, North Carolina where I had made plans to stay overnight. Actually the chuckle is rather a grimace. I had made plans to stay at a motel on Highway 24 (Lejeune Boulevard named for Camp Lejeune, the Marine Base located in Jacksonville). About 10:00 pm, as I neared the motel, I could see it in the distance to my left. It seemed as though I had been behind the wheel all day, so I was pretty tired. Rather than being directly next to the busy, main highway, the motel was situated just off of a parallel frontage road. My maps and GPS indicated that I should pass by it and perform a U-turn at the next intersection, taking the first right turn to cross over the main highway and get me on the frontage road. I turned off Highway 24 but had to slam on the brakes because there was a concrete barrier blocking the turn ramp. There was no sign warning me of the barricade. WTF!?!

I carefully backed up so that I could re-enter Hwy. 24. I drove down the highway and found a place where I could U-turn to try to find another way to get there. This time I took the next ramp to the right that was supposed to allow me access to the frontage road. Again, I had to slam on the brakes because of another concrete barricade! Well, what was I to do? I backed up, again, and re-entered Hwy. 24, and I drove a mile or so (passing the motel) until I could U-turn. I did so, and passing the motel again, I decided that I would try to get there from behind the motel. So I had to drive another 3 miles (5 km) (frustratingly passing the motel, again) to find a way into town. After dodging one-way streets and the like, I managed to finally find my way back onto Hwy. 24 — no way to get there from behind the motel, it seemed. Finally, I discovered a cutoff (past the motel, again) that allowed me to cross under Hwy. 24 and gain access to the frontage road. At Last!

When I asked the lady at the front desk if other people had problems getting to the motel, she laughed and said that the “normal” turnoff that I had taken at first is open Monday-Friday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, otherwise it is closed because that road allows access to one of the gates at the Marine Base — for security reasons… Your government dollars at work for you.

Anyway, I finally got settled in for a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, I stopped for a quick breakfast at the nearby McDonald’s and then left for the 30-minute drive to our meeting place at the Patsy Pond parking lot east of Cape Carteret. I met the other folks there, and we set off on a hike to Patsy Pond. One of the other field trippers had been to this area before but it had not been during mid-August, so we didn’t know for sure just what we would find. The location looked very favorable for orchids and carnivorous plants, but we didn’t see any. So, we got back into our cars and headed north to Pringle Road where another field tripper knew there would be nice orchids and carnivorous plants.

Here is a shot of the group, gathered beside Pringle Road at the edge of a pretty longleaf pine savannah:

Croatan National Forest field trip group

Front row, left to right: Jim (your blogger) and Jackie. Back row, left to right, Graham, Laura, Mason, Tracey, Ben, and Kelvin. Several of them are holding a wonderful new nature book as product placement. 😉

Our first stop was just next to where the above image was taken. Mason, the leader of the group of five whom I had just met, had been there on several occasions and knew just where to lead us. Jackie and Kelvin (aka, KT), the field trippers who I already knew, were eager to follow. Just a short walk through the grasses of the savannah, and we found out first orchids of the day: Platanthera conspicua or Southern White fringed orchid. Although I had just photographed this orchid species the day before in the Francis Marion National Forest, I was happy to set up my tripod to photograph these beauties. As I have said on many previous occasions, I never tire of photographing orchids — even the same species, time after time… Here are a few shots of the first ones we saw:

Scattered all around the orchids, were many large Pinguicula caerulea or Violet Butterwort plants — but they were not in bloom — they are spring bloomers. The leaf rosettes were quite large, indicating that the plants were happy with their location:

This is a carnivorous plant. It catches small insects on the top surface of its sticky leaves. Once the insect is trapped, the plant begins to digest and assimilate the insect, converting bugs into carnivorous plants. Here is what the flower of this plant would look like in early May:

Mason suggested that we drive father up the road to another turnoff where we parked and took the foot trail to a site where there were some really interesting carnivorous plants. The hike in took us by some large, quite deep potholes on an old access road. We had to find our way around these, since most of us were not wearing suitable rubber boots. After skirting several of these water hazards, we finally made it to Mason’s favorite spot. The first thing he pointed out was a group of large Dionaea muscipula or Venus’ fly-traps that showed fused spines along the edges of the traps. I had seen specimens of this form of fly-trap before, but they had been domesticated and bred under exacting conditions. I had not seen any in the wild like this:

And these were large traps, approaching 1 inch (2.5 cm) in length. As we looked around, KT spotted a plant with giant traps hiding under some vegetation. The traps on this one measured more than 1.65 inches (42 mm) wide! These were the largest Venus’ fly-traps I had ever seen:

Mason eventually found a grasshopper and fed it to the plant. What a sight!

Nearby, there were other large Venus’ fly-traps that had a trap color like a freshly cut papaya fruit:

He also pointed out several nice examples of a couple of different species of pitcher plants: Sarracenia rubra or Sweet Pitcher Plant as well as Sarracenia purpurea subspecies venosa or Southern Purple Pitcher Plant. But what was most exciting to me was seeing an example of the natural hybrid between the two: Sarracenia Xchelsonii or Chelson’s hybrid Pitcher Plant. These are very rare in the wild, and I have seen only a couple of them:

We finished up at this site and headed to another site off of Millis Road. Mason had seen Platanthera ciliaris or Yellow fringed orchid in bloom in years past at this site, and wanted to show it to us. This particular savannah, Millis Road Savannah, had been burned earlier in the year. It was pristine! I don’t know if I have seen a prettier longleaf pine savannah in my life. We walked through ferns and wire grass, passing pitcher plants here and there. Mason noticed a flowering shrub in the distance, so we walked over to it. It turns out to be a late-blooming Gordonia lasianthus or Loblolly bay. It’s sweetly scented white flower reminded me of a camellia. Loblolly bay is native to southern United States coastal plain, from southern Virginia, west to Louisiana, and south to Lake Okeechobee in peninsular Florida. It inhabits swamps, bogs, wet flatwoods and similar wet areas. Among its botanical relatives are the thirst-quenching tea plant (Camellia sinensis) and the beautiful domesticated camellia (Camellia japonica). Here is an image of that single flower that Mason found:

Mason and his group wanted to head to another location that was hours away, so we decided first to drive in to the nearby town of Newport for lunch. We picked out a Subway Sandwich Shop and took our time eating our lunch and replenishing our fluids. KT, Jackie, and I decided that we would hang around the area and check out another nearby spot that they had visited earlier in the year. It was on Sam Hatcher Road. So we bid Mason’s group farewell and headed out to our next location.

We drove down Sam Hatcher Road (I was following Jackie since I had never been to this site before) and stopped at a sandy pull off. KT and Jackie had seen spring orchids here in May, but they had also seen some nice Venus’ fly-traps, too. So we got our camera gear and headed off into the savannah.

Parts of it had been burned recently, so we knew that whatever was there near the ground would be fairly easy to see through the short grasses. I followed KT as he wound around the edge of the pocosin. In no time, we found a few nice Venus’ fly-traps in the shallow ditch surrounding the pocosin. They were growing in the Sphagnum moss in the bottom of the ditch, and I thought they were very photogenic. Here are a couple of images of a group of them:

Note the beautiful, dark red traps on these particular plants.

Nearby were dozens of Polygala cruciata or Drum Heads Milkwort plants.

After photographing the Drum Heads Milkwort, I spotted KT standing over another fine Venus’ fly-trap plant. This one was unusual in that it was situated on the drier portion of the savannah quite a distance from the ditch. Here is that plant:

This one had traps that were almost an inch wide.

Following the ditch around the pocosin, we found a hot-spot for Venus’ fly-traps and Pitcher Plants. In one section of the ditch were several large Venus’ fly-traps and another rare hybrid Sarracenia Xchelsonii — my second one of the day! These hybrids are so rare because the parent plants generally bloom a few weeks apart, so the pollen doesn’t get spread from species to species very often.

The first of the Venus’ fly-traps was almost pure green with just a little hint of pink:

Another one close by had dark orange/red traps and was growing right next to a Sarracenia rubra or Sweet Pitcher Plant, possibly one of the parents of the hybrid pitcher plant we saw:

Here is a shot of a couple of the pitchers of the rare hybrid Sarracenia Xchelsonii growing on the edge of the ditch:

Obviously, we spent some time with these wonderful native plants. When we finished, we continued our way around the pocosin. Eventually, we decided to enter the pocosin where it had been recently burned. There were some relatively clear areas where grass was coming back in, and here is where we found the best plant of the day. KT was pointing out several nice groups of Venus’ fly-traps and their spent seed heads, when I spotted a huge plant under the edge of a shrub:

Here was the most beautiful Venus’ fly-trap plant I think I’ve ever seen. It had eight large (> 1 inch or 2.5 cm) traps, each one with excellent color. Every trap (except for a young one) was fully open — wider than most that we had seen this day. It was perfectly shaped and just a joy to behold. We wasted no time in photographing this beauty from all angles. Here are some additional shots of this wonderful plant:

Now, I’ve seen my share of Venus’ fly-traps in the wild. I’ve seen ones with large traps, and I’ve seen ones with dark red traps, but I can say that this is the best of both worlds. KT and I just sat there and drooled over this one for a long time — it was almost a religious experience for me. I really didn’t want to leave this spot.

After a while, reality took over and we had to say goodbye to this special place. It was getting late, and KT and Jackie had a drive of several hours to get home. I had decided to stay the night in Shallotte, North Carolina for the next day’s trip to the Green Swamp. KT and Jackie would be driving down there to meet me the next morning. So, we said our goodbyes and headed out. Again, I had lots of images to download and camera equipment to take care of. It was a 2.5 hour trip for me, but this time I would have great visions of gorgeous Venus’ fly-traps to keep me company. Stay tuned for the final installment of my Carolina Coastal Plain adventure…

–Jim