I went to a state nature preserve deep in southwest Georgia last weekend to walk among thousands of meat eaters. I had no fear of being attacked because these carnivores were pitcher plants, which trap and consume insects to obtain nutrients for survival.
Three species of these fascinating plants grow in profusion at the 650-acre Doerun Pitcher Plant Bog Natural Area, three miles south of Doerun in Colquitt County. To see them, I joined a group of members from the Birdsong Nature Center in Thomasville for a stroll through the preserve, one of the last great strongholds of pitcher plants in the Southeast.
Of eight pitcher plant species found in the United States, seven are native to Georgia, noted our leader, Tom Patrick, a botanist with the state Department of Natural Resources. All seven species are on Georgia’s protected plants list.
Pitcher plants inhabit acidic soils of open bogs, wet savannas, pond edges, sloughs, ditches and low areas of pine flatwoods. It is estimated, however, that more than 95 percent of such habitat in the Southeast has disappeared because of drainage for agriculture and fire suppression. Occasional wildfires once kept woody overgrowth in check in the bogs, but such fires now are quickly doused.
One species, the white-topped pitcher plant, once occurred in five Georgia counties but no longer can be found in the state. Another species, the green pitcher plant, is on the federal endangered species list.
The three species found in Doerun’s bogs include the parrot, hooded and yellow trumpet (or yellow fly trap) pitcher plants. Of the three, the yellow trumpet is the showiest, standing nearly three feet tall. The six-inch-tall parrot pitcher plant is the smallest. The hooded grows as high as a foot.
As with all pitcher plants, water and digestive juices collect in a pool at the bottom of the plants' “pitchers.” Nectar lures insects into the pitchers. Once there, downward pointing hairs help prevent hapless victims from crawling out. Finally, the insects fall into the pool at the bottom, where they are digested and absorbed by the plants. Nutrients from the insects help the plants survive in the nutrient-poor soil of the bogs.
In addition to the pitcher plants, other carnivorous plants occur at Doerun -- a bladderwort, two butterworts and three sundew species. The preserve also harbors one of the last vestiges of the great longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystem that once covered the southern half of Georgia.
A boardwalk and a deck allow visitors to observe Doerun’s diversity. More information: www.georgiawildlife.com/node/2377.
In the sky: The moon will be first quarter on June 8, rising out of the east around lunch time and setting in the west around midnight, said David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Science Museum. Venus, Mars and Jupiter are low in the east about an hour before sunrise. Saturn is high in the east at dark and is visible most of the night. It will appear near the moon the night of June 10.
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