[at-l] Pitcher Plants

[FTCracker at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/3/2007 10:04:52 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
sloetoe at yahoo.com writes:
### Navi-gator, any idea if those are the same pitcher
plants as in arboreal bogs -- Maine/New Hampshire? I
have no idea what the distribution is, or if there are
more than one species. (I thought there was only one,
and located north. Is it acidic soil they're hunting
for?)
Glad you asked. I just got this science lesson yesterday from the forest 
ecologist at Blackwater River State Forest, one of the many spots to hike past 
pitcher plants in the Panhandle:

"Seepage Slope communities at BRSF are small wetlands located at the base of 
slopes.  As ground water percolates through the porous sands of the slopes, 
the water encounters a less permeable layer and seeps laterally out of the 
ground.  Seepage Slopes are often called “pitcher plant bogs” because of the 
presence of pitcher plants and other carnivorous plants...These communities provide 
habitat for whitetop, green and parrot pitcher plants, as well as orchids, 
ferns, panhandle lilies and yellow-eyed grass.  They are also the preferred 
habitat of the pine barrens tree frog. 


Pitcher plants and other carnivorous plants, such as sundews and butterworts, 
have adapted to living in these nutrient-poor sites by their ability to 
capture insects with pitfall traps and sticky hairs.   The captured insects are 
then digested and their nutrients used by the plants.  These plants maintain a 
competitive edge over other plants through their ability to supplement nutrients 
through carnivory and to withstand the frequent, low-intensity ground fires 
that maintain Seepage Slopes as open habitats."

The pitcher plant rich portion of Florida - from the western border east to 
the Apalachee Savannas just west of Tallahassee - includes not just seepage 
slopes but massive bogs found in seasonally wet pine flatwoods. Ergo, acidic 
soil. 

In my research, (see http://www.floridahikes.com/blog?page=3) I've seen four 
species of pitcher plants; six exist in this state. The most definitive 
resource on the subject is at 
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/wetlands/delineation/featuredplants/sarrac.htm, where they say there are two other North American 
species NOT found in Florida. I'm not familiar with New Hampshire's pitcher 
plants, so you'd have to compare against the photos from the above site.

Cheers, Navigator