Darlingtonia Wayside Revisited
Another spring break brings another visit to Darlingtonia Wayside in Florence, Oregon.
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An Early Oregon Morning
Given the fact that it’s January, and very obviously winter, there isn’t a whole lot of plant action going on in my neck of the woods. The weather is cool and the plants are dormant, but even so, they are still magnificent in the artistry they can create through their natural form. Here are some photos from a frosty Oregon morning:
A frosty Darlingtonia californica
Sarracenia
Sarracenia
Sarracenia
Sarracenia
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A Visit to Sarracenia Northwest
I’d like to give a shout out and special Thank you to Jeff Dallas and Jacob Farin, co-owners of Sarracenia Northwest, and Deryk Moore, a second-season employee, who with their undying patience and carnivorous plant expertise, made my trip to one of this year’s open house events an experience to remember.
As an avid carnivorous plant enthusiast and beginning collector, I reveled at the opportunity to pick their brains about CP growth habits and growing techniques at the open house. Dallas and Moore mingled among the guests (about 50 throughout the day) answering questions and offering advice. Although Moore has only been with the nursery a short time, I was able to gather info about growing conditions, hardening off plants, and reverse osmosis watering systems from him. After visiting with Dallas and viewing the outdoor grow operation, it’s clear that he stands behind the nursery’s motto of “No terrariums. No myths. No nonsense.” 100 percent.
All of the Sarracenia species were growing out-of-doors in small lined pools. Each pool contained several clusters of plants, each with their own elegant shape and colorful, distinct venation.
New, unopened Sarracenia pitchers
The tropical species such as Nepenthes, Heliamphora, and Cephalotus, were thriving in spacious, well-ventilated grow tents.
Nepenthes grow tent
Nepenthes jamban
Throughout the day I admired and photographed the plants from different angles and in the changing light as I made repeated trips up and down the aisles of available plants, as well as the nursery’s private collection. Continuously, I found myself lost in the moment as each pass through revealed something new–the nursery was veritable treasure trove of botanical delights. Even after spending over three hours at the site, it was hard to tear myself away. This was my booty for the day:
The white stripe beneath the peristome on this Nepenthes albomarginata is made up of trichomes, or living hairs, that attract termites to the mouth of the pitcher. (Very cool!)
This Sarracenia flava is a North American native. Known as the "Yellow trumpet," S. flava occurs around the southern U.S. typically in a yellow/greenish color. This "Red tube" flava is somewhat of a natural anomaly which makes it a nice collector's piece. The tallest pitchers on this plant are about 18 inches.
Small pots left to right: Drosera spatulata, Colorado giant VFT, Drosera capensis; Large rear pot: Drosera filiformis (the Florida giant)
Again, Thank you Jeff, Jacob, and Deryk, for opening the nursery to all of us that day, as well as for your amazing hospitality, and yummy Italian sodas 
See you next year!!
To find out more about Sarracenia Northwest, visit their website www.cobraplants.com or follow them on Twitter at @snwplants.
To see more pictures from the open house, click here.
Another Native Oregon Sundew: The Debut of Drosera anglica
We were camped at Gold Lake, a year-round recreation area situated at about 5,800 feet in Oregon’s well-known Willamette Pass. It was the first day of the holiday weekend and of course, we were lost. Again.
Our mission you ask? To find and document native populations of Drosera anglica, Drosera rotundifolia, and possibly Pinguicula vulgaris that I had learned about in passing conversation a couple of weeks prior. The source was reliable (some might say an expert), but in my excitement to learn of another local community of carnivorous plants, I completely forgot to ask for details about the location. And this is how my S.O. and I found ourselves bush whacking through the forested banks of Gold Lake as dusk neared on the first day of our “vacation.”
Now, I’m all for back country adventure and all that other good stuff, but given the fact that plants in the Drosera family are small (typically rising only inches off the ground) I felt that our cross-country undertaking was leading us nowhere but in the wrong direction. You can imagine my relief when after navigating freezing-cold mountain streams, climbing over numerous fallen trees, and wading through chest-high grass, the landscape opened up and I found the first Drosera anglica; it was one of what would turn out to be a community of literally millions of plants.
Also known as the English sundew, Drosera anglica is a "circumboreal" species, meaning it is found at high latitudes world-wide.
Right away I noticed two key differences between Drosera anglica and Drosera rotundifolia: D. rotundifolia has round, spatulate laminae (leaf-like structures), while D. anglica bears flat, elongated laminae that are attached to long petioles (leaf stems), which make them a more erect species.
D. anglica secretes a sweet scent to attract its prey. Once contact is made, D. anglica responds by quickly bending its tentacles toward the prey, a phenomenon known as "thigmotropism." The prey may become further ensnared by the lamina curling around it, but this movement takes much longer.
Observation also showed that D. rotundifolia at the site was growing in dense clusters. Although the D. anglica did grow close to each other, I would not define them as “dense.” However, both species did grow in similar places along the edges of knolls in the wet, peaty area.
Drosera species enjoy bogs, fens, swamps and marshes, and are often found in association with sphagnum moss.
Unfortunately, as I began to survey the area, I noticed that unlike the D. rotundifolia in the Santiam Pass that were just entering their reproductive cycle, these plants were at the end of it. Almost all of the plants exhibited dewless, receding pads and displayed the tall remains of their inflorescences (flowers), which had now matured into dried capsules full of seeds.
D. anglica's flowers stand tall above its sticky pads although this species exclusively self-pollinates.
Even though the plants were all well past their peak, and although I was unable to find any species of Pinguicula on this trip, I am still pleased with the outcome. Hiking into these sites looking for Drosera has given me an opportunity to not only learn about the plants I enjoy so much, but to also learn about the ecology of our local habitats. Observing how these species interact with animals, as well as other plants and mosses around them, has helped me understand and appreciate their carnivorous specificity even more. Through research, I have also located two other sites in Oregon that host native populations of Drosera, as well a Darlingtonia Californica site. I’m guessing we have about three weeks of outdoor weather left this season, where should I go next?
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Drosera rotundifolia Makes Flowers!
Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn little plants.
That’s exactly what I thought to myself as I trekked through the highland meadow for the fourth time in search of Drosera rotundifolia’s flowers. It had been almost a month since I first found the population, and each week I returned in hopes of seeing its blooms. And after each of those weeks when I found the plants still were not producing, I would think to myself, “OK, one more week. How long can it take for one tiny little flower to bloom?” Little did I know how bull-headed D. rotundifolia can be.
After moving through about half of the (very large) area last weekend, we were only able to find a handful of plants that had flowers. Honestly, it was a little disappointing that after so many visits this would be all that we would find; but despite that, the overwhelming heat, and the mosquito swarms, it was still a pretty groovy experience. The flowers that we were able to find were white, very petite, and actually quite lovely. They are five-petaled, with what looks to be six stamens, and have radial symmetry.
D. rotundifolia in bloom. Its flowers will only fully open in bright sun.
All of D. rotundifolia's flowers are produced on one side of its stem, or more technically, the peduncle, the main stalk of a flower cluster.
D. rotundifolia has a dainty flower that has five petals and five sepals (in between the petals) that are characteristically as long as the petals.
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D. rotundifolia Traps a Crazy-eyed Bug!
Most people who have carnivorous plants know that when you least expect it, you can find the darnedest things snared in their traps. Looky what we found entangled with a wild Drosera rotundifolia (!) –
This insect landed and got his hind legs stuck in D. rotundifolia's dew
To see more photos of the bug click here.
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Oregon Wildflowers: The White Day
During the month-long search for Drosera rotundifolia’s flowers, repeated trips were required, and were made to the Western Cascade site. Most people probably think that going to the same area over and over again in a short amount of time would be redundant and boring (after all, it doesn’t take long to memorize a trail and know exactly how many more footsteps until you reach your destination), but it’s actually quite the contrary. As it turns out, the repetition (and inevitable familiarity) can be a very enlightening experience. After returning each week, I found that one of the rewards of making many trips in such a short time span is that you get to see the succession and all the going-ons of the plants and trees coming in, and going out of season. On this day we ventured out, almost all of the flowers we spied were white.
A cluster of Trautvetteria caroliniensis, or false bugbane.
Leucanthemum vulgare, aka oxeye daisy. This "flower" is actually composed of two types of flowers: disk flowers (the numerous little yellow ones in the middle), and ray flowers (each petal terminates at the center with its own flower). The ray flowers attract pollinators and the disc flowers cluster closely together to offer easy pollen transfer.
Parnassia fimbriata, or fringed grass-of-parnassus.
This Caltha biflora, or elkslip, has already been pollinated and is producing fruit in its swollen ovaries.
Many people believe that foxglove, or Digitalis purpurea, is an Oregon native, but it's actually a European species that was introduced to the PNW
Digitalis purpurea with spider
And just for a little splash of color..
A purple aster in the Asteraceae family. Similar to the oxeye daisy, which is also in the Asteraceae family, this "flower" has a composite head and is composed of disk and ray flowers.
Castilleja miniata, or common red paintbrush
D. rotundifolia and P. vulgaris in the Pacific Northwest
Ugh, all the homework has been getting me down lately and the weather has been so nice, I had to get out of the house today. I decided to grab the pups and head out to McDowell Creek Falls.
Miss Timber
and Miss Kila
It’s still pretty early in the spring season so I didn’t expect to see many flowers in bloom, but much to my surprise, there were quite a few flowers out. One specimen in particular completely took my breath away. I have never seen anything like this before – I don’t even know how much time I spent poking and prodding this poor plant – and it definitely go the bulk of my attention this afternoon.
A male Western Meadowrue
Turns out it is called a Thalictrum occidentale, or Western Meadowrue, and it’s part of the buttercup family. I found this out (plus a couple of other interesting tidbits of info) by scouring my tattered copy of “Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast” as soon as I got home. The species has distinctive male and female plants, and the female plants actually don’t have any petals at all. The male Meadowrue (pictured) is the more flamboyant of the pair and offers the dangling chandelier-like stamens and purple anthers to attractant pollinators.
One other very exciting thing I discovered is that in addition to cobra lilies, there are two other carnivorous plants that call the Pacific Northwest home. drum roll please…. They are the round-leaved sundew, Drosera rotundifolia, and the common butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris.
According to "Plants of the PNW Coast," Native American tribes of the region used Drosera rotundifolia for removing corns, warts and bunyons. Photo courtesy of Atlapix on flickr.com.
Pinguicula vulgaris photo courtesy of islaynaturalhistory.blogspot.com
I found these little beauties under the heading “Oddballs” in “Plants of the PNW Coast” and according to the regional map, it looks like they are native to coastal regions as far south as Newport and as far north as the Cook Inlet in Alaska. Alaska? Can this be true? I have no idea, but I’m very excited by the prospect of it. Have you ever seen carnivorous plants in the Pacific Northwest region? And if so, where?
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Feeding Nepenthes alata!
A couple of months ago I started thinking maybe it was time to give the babies a little something to snack on. It didn’t really need to be anything big because unlike what a lot of people believe, carnivorous plants actually don’t need to eat “meat” to survive; it’s just a fertilizer for them. They can actually sustain pretty well without the bugs, and sometimes poo, that they gather in their pitchers which primarily just provides nitrogen for them. I grabbed The Big Tweezers and ventured outside….
The Big Tweezers
Moving some of the big flower planters, I found a veritable smorgasbord of goodies and I chose some small soft-bodied slugs because I figured they would be easiest for the plants to digest. I collected two of the inch-long mollusks and used The Big Tweezers to drop them into the pitchers of my Nepenthes alata. I learned two very important lessons from this experiment.
1. Do not put fresh food in pitchers that do not have any of their own fluid. The fluid contains a natural enzyme that breaks down and digests protein and if you only put distilled water in it (which is what I did) the prey will just decompose, essentially taking the pitcher with it.
2. Do not feed the plants slugs because the little suckers CAN and WILL crawl out. As you can imagine, this is bad for a number of reasons, but mostly because they will devour your beautiful plants the first chance they get.
The perp
Aside from slugs (which I highly DO NOT recommend) there are a ton of things you can feed carnivorous plants, what are some of your favorites?
Oregon Sun Grows American Pitcher Plants
Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but life has been pretty busy, and honestly, mostly full of win and only a little bit of fail (thank goodness!). First off, last week I graduated community college with five of my cohorts from Linn-Benton Community College’s newspaper, The Commuter. Walking with the ladies, Alethea, Audrey, and Alyssa, as well as being accompanied by Frank and Jordan, at the ceremony was a great honor; I will truly miss working with you all. It was also the perfect way to finish off the year as I prepare to embark upon a new adventure: moving to the big city.
Secondly, the Oregon weather has finally realized that it IS spring, and in fact, almost summer, and warmed up a bit. The wonderful, but brief, warm spell is giving my outdoor plants the little push they needed and they are now producing quite nicely (albeit weeks late).
New growth on Darlingtonia californica, aka, the cobra lily
While the cobra has been showing some growth, the other American pitchers have been flowering. They are so beautiful I hate to cut them, but in order to save the pitchers, it must be done!
Three flowers all growing off the same Sarracenia purpurea plant
Sarracenia, species unknown
Sadly, while the outdoor plants are just starting to thrive, one of my indoor “Hummer’s Giant” Cephalotus follicularis croaked. Frankly, I’m quite confused about the whole situation because I have three small plants that came from the same shipment and presumably from the same plant because they were sold as one unit. They all have the same soil mixture, the same water, and the same light. I noticed the one that died was looking a little sad about two weeks ago when the pitchers started losing color. Then the leaves followed, and pretty soon the whole thing was brown and/or dead. This was an exceptionally sad day because Cephalotus, an Australian native, is one of the most unique pitcher plants one can buy and I was really looking forward to watching them grow into mature plants. This YouTube video posted by Sarracenia Northwest illustrates what makes Cephalotus so special, including its deep burgundy coloring, toothed opening, and long flower stalk:
As of now, the tank the Cephalotus are in is also housing three Pinguicula, all of which are doing fine. The temperature hovers around 72 degrees Fahrenheit with about 80-90 percent humidity and 12 hours of light per day. I’ve read differing information about growing Cephalotus, but most do say that it is the most difficult to keep alive. I guess at this point, only time will tell!
New Nepenthes Pitchers
The warm weather is still holding out in Oregon (knock on wood) and my plants are finally beginning to flourish. YAY! The outdoor American pitchers and the indoor Nepenthes are going gangbusters and I couldn’t be happier. The Nepenthes pitchers are still on a little on the small side, but they sure are pretty! This week will just be a few photos of the new pitchers and one artsy-fartsy photo I took of one of my newest additions, Pinguicula agnata x gypsicola. Enjoy!
Nepenthes Mirabilis x Kuchingensis Spotted Red: This is a plant I ordered off ebay about four months ago. After about a 10-week recovery period from shipping trauma (it came from Thailand, so it was in transit for about three weeks) it slowly began to produce new leaves. The recent temperature jump in the terrarium gave the plant the boost it needed to produce these beautiful red-spotted pitchers. This pitcher is about four inches in length from top to bottom, including the lid.
Mirabilis x Kuchingensis Spotted Red
One of the features I like so much about this pitcher is its wide, flat, ribbed peristome. The peristome is the area around the opening and it’s where the nectar is produced. The tantalizing combination of a colorful peristome and yummy nectar is what attracts live prey to the pitchers. I’ve tried the nectar and it’s actually quite sweet. It tastes similar to that of a honeysuckle. Sometimes, for giggles (and education, of course) I’ll try to get house guests to try the nectar. They usually turn two shades of white and look at me like I’m out of my everlovin’ mind. Good times.
Peristome of a Mirabilis x Kuchingensis Spotted Red
The following plant is also a Nepenthes Mirabilis x Kuchingensis, but I think it’s just a straight cross.
Mirabilis x Kuchingensis
And finally,
P. agnata x gypsicola
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Success! Oregon’s Drosera rotundifolia In the Wild
Sunday was a wonderful day spent gallivanting around the Western Cascades. As many of you know, normal springtime conditions in our neck of the woods were nearly non-existent this year and summer was very late coming along. This poor combination made for long, dreary, and somewhat frustrating season changes, but has left the Western Cascades in full bloom even in late July/early August. (You can see wildflower photos from the trip here.) The hills were buzzing with bees, wasps, and other zippy creatures working to pollinate Oregon’s flora as we hiked through the forest in search of Drosera rotundifolia, a native Oregon sundew.
We reached our initial destination after only two mishaps–first hiking on what we thought was the wrong trail (it turned out to be the right trail, we just didn’t go far enough) and then forgetting the camera at said trailhead (we only realized this after we were five miles down the road). Luckily, the camera was still there when we went back. Anyhow, when we finally got to the right destination it looked very promising. Information I had found about D. rotundifolia led me to believe that we would find it bedded with bog clubmoss, a regionally widespread, yet somewhat endangered moss. We searched and searched in every mossy area we could find, but it wasn’t until we moved out of the moss (which is very dense) and into the grass (which is more sparse) that we had Success!
Meet Oregon’s Drosera rotundifolia:
Native population of Drosera rotundifolia in the Western Cascades
The first population that we found was quite small, but as we began to circle farther around the area we found that they were everywhere!
It was really neat to watch the plants behave in their natural habitat and their sheer numbers, as well as their vibrant pink color and dewy tentacles, were AMAZING.
A small clump of D. rotundifolia
Spatulate pads and T1 tentacles of D. rotundifolia
It took a little while for me to notice, but after a bit I realized that almost all of the plants were sending up flowers. (If you look closely at pics 1, 3, and 4 you can see the shoots.)** Stay tuned for part 2 of this post, “Oregon’s Drosera rotundifolia In Bloom!”
** See the post ”Oregon’s Drosera rotundifolia (almost) in Bloom!” for the amended version of this observation.
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Western Cascade Wildflowers
In pursuit of Oregon native Drosera rotundifolia, I was lucky enough to come across some of nature’s other magnificent creations. Off and on my partner and I made good time throughout the day, but honestly I’m such a plant junkie anymore, it’s hard to get anywhere when I have my camera with me. Also, now that I’ve been learning the scientific names of Oregon’s plants, I have to stop to name each species while I point out their individual characteristics. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a good time being a nuisance
I love the four by four symmetry of this flower. It's one of my favorite wildflowers and goes by the name Cornus canadensis, or Bunchberry
Iris tenax, or Oregon iris, with an unidentified arachnid and its lunch
Forget about the roses, this Lilium washingtonianum, or Cascade lily, is the flower you should be stopping to smell. If you ever see it along the roadside, DO EEEETTTT!
As Lilium washingtonianum matures, it goes from white to pinkish or purple with age. It also takes on this lovely ribbon-like shape.
A specimen in the genus Pedicularis of the Orobanchaceae family
Small population of Pedicularis
Flowering Xerophyllum tenax, better known as Bear grass
Some Wildflowers (and fungi) of the Pacific Northwest
Traveling back out to the site of the lovely Drosera rotundifolia patch last Saturday gave another opportunity to snap some photos of Oregon’s beautiful flora. Here’s what we saw:
Clintonia uniflora, or Queen's cup lily, produces one blue berry-like fruit that gives the plant its other common name: the blue-bead lily.
A Lilium washingtonianum, or Cascade lily, shows off its anthers
A Lupinus polyphyllus, or Large-leaved lupine, from the pea family
Spirea densiflora, or Subalpine spirea, a variety of Hardhack
A single Hypopitys monotropa, or Pinesap. Breaking down the scientific name of pinesap into its Latin roots helps explain what it is - "Hypopitys" becomes hypos (beneath) and pitys (trees), and "monotropa" uses the root word mono, or one. Pinesap: a plant that grows beneath trees and has flowers that all face one way.
A pretty, but unknown species
Platanthera dilatata, or White bog orchid
Coral mushroom
A small conk on a rotting log
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Oregon’s Drosera rotundifolia (almost) in Bloom!
So it wasn’t until after we revisited the site again this Saturday that I realized my mistake. I was certain that after seeing all of those flower buds ready to burst on our first visit, that my partner and I would be in for a real treat when we returned almost a week later. Much to my dismay, on our second visit, not one single Drosera rotundifolia was in bloom…
Upon re-inspecting the plants, I discovered that what I originally thought were flower buds are actually the pale-green backsides of new pads coming up.
Behind these sticky pads are shoots in three different stages of development: newly erect, slightly unfurled, and unfurled.
This is what the flower buds actually look like:
Delicate flower buds of Drosera rotundifolia
The buds were actually really close on this visit, so hopefully by the time we make it back next weekend, we won’t have missed the flowers. Fortunately, even though we have to wait another week to see Drosera’s floral show, the trip wasn’t a complete waste. Because we didn’t get lost on the way to the site this trip (thank goodness!), my partner and I had a lot of extra time to explore around. What we found was pretty impressive. The population was much, much, larger than we thought, spanning several yards and hosting several thousand (if not over 1 million) plants in the wetland.
A knoll in a very small part of the populated area. Everything pink you see in this picture is Drosera!
We also found a pretty blue moth being digested on top of a clump of Drosera:
This poor little guy never had a chance.
After that, we came upon a dragonfly dipping quickly up and down in flight, laying eggs in an especially wet part of the marsh. I almost had the camera out when zip!, he flew into some sundews and got stuck!
This dragonfly narrowly escaped becoming a meal for the Drosera in the background!
Luckily, after a short struggle, the dragonfly freed himself. But because he had landed on the Drosera face-first, he had the sticky dew all over his legs and promptly stuck himself to some tall grass. Thankfully he eventually buzzed off, sticky legs and all!
In another area, I found this little dude when he scurried away from me while I was snapping some pics of Cascade lilies:
A lizard hiding under some dead branches at the base of a tree.
Overall, it was a pretty kick-ass day. Carnivorous plants, lizards, and good company. What more could a girl ask for?
