Fire Island Dews

[quogue]

Imagine finding Sundews on a desert island surrounded by salt-water... that pretty much describes the Wilderness section of Fire Island.

I found an oasis which seems to be the only permanent & fully fresh water there (there's brackish marshes and seasonal fresh water puddles)

Is the literal watering hole too, I found it by following Fox tracks and there were plenty of other animal tracks there...

I've looked for Dews sporatically over the years, so it is a great feeling to have finally found them!!!

The Fire Island Wilderness is beautiful on the seaside of the dunes and I visit for camping and day trips often... but behind the dunes it's hot with no shade, Ba-Zillions of extremely agressive Mosquitos, Hordes of Ticks with Lyme, Poison Ivy everywhere... not a very friendly place... is wild though and fantastic!

These photos are only with my iPhone, so thery're not the best... I will be updating this thread with better pics sometime in the future.

 

[quogue]

I'm guessing these are Rotundifolia and the last ones are Intermedia...

They all were quite small, the Intermedias were tiny! But there they were!!

 

[quogue]

And a few pics of the habitat:

 

[quogue]

And for the heck of it... some other weird plant I seen on the way there:

 

[Wire Man]

I'm amazed at how close they are to salt water.

 

[Rocketcaver]

It would be interesting to check the TDS of the lake water.

 

[hcarlton]

That wierd plant is probably a thistle, a weed where i live. Nice rotundifolias, but the plants you call "intermedia" look a little bit closer to an intermedia x rotundifolia cross.

 

[land_pro]

ya thats deffinatly a thistle. The exact type of thistle is hard to tell unless its flowering, but probably a globe thistle.

 

[lance]

Wow how cool! Ouch those thistles hurt. Be careful of getting snared by them.

 

[quogue]

I'm amazed at how close they are to salt water.

Yah, these are quite close! One of the Filiformis sites is pretty close to Saltwater too, but on the "main Island" of LI

It would be interesting to check the TDS of the lake water.

Nice idea, I may do that when I visit next... which should be soon

That wierd plant is probably a thistle, a weed where i live. Nice rotundifolias, but the plants you call "intermedia" look a little bit closer to an intermedia x rotundifolia cross.

Thanks for the Thistle ID, although the Intermedia is indeed Intermedia. Those are teeny seedlings and that's how they look at that stage

ya thats deffinatly a thistle. The exact type of thistle is hard to tell unless its flowering, but probably a globe thistle.

Thanks for the ID, any idea what time of year they usually flower?

Wow how cool! Ouch those thistles hurt. Be careful of getting snared by them.

Thanks! Although I'm more afraid of the legions of Poison Ivy to be found there!

 

[Brie]

awesome! jealous.. ive yet to find our native rotundifolia..

 

[Heli]

whoa, I cant believe I missed this thread. great pics! Reminds me when I found stands of rotundifolia only several feet away from the ocean on the islands of Maine.

 

[quogue]

Well, that spot was right by the Old Inlet breech... visited a couple of months ago and it was one of the only spots that was not completely flattened in that area.
Did look pretty bad though, a lot of salt water overwashed the area and flooded it.
There were numerous dunes protecting it with only the immediate ones around it left.
I found out it is fed by an underground aquifer, hopefully the life there survives and the fresh water balances out.
There were toads, snakes and a fox den there with other bog plants and whatnot.
All the marshes in the area are completely gone... as are pretty much all the dunes and the habitats they protected.
I do have a few years worth of pics of that part of the Fire Island Wilderness, I'll have to update this thread with those once I get the chance!

 

[Heli]

Oh man that is terrible