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Ozzy

SirKristoff is a poopiehead
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I checked my email this morning and somebody I don't know sent me an email and the title read "
E-mail-A-Friend: Unusual plant found at Jones... "
First thing I thought of was Jones Lake, a State Park that I use to swim at when I was a kid. I opened the email and he said "Thought you might get a kick out of this fellow plant lover." and there was a link to The Bladen Journal, That's a news paper in Elizabethtown, NC, 5 miles away from Jones Lake. So I knew then it had to be Jones Lake. I opened it and here's the story.
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Rare plant discovered at Jones Lake Intern Justin Barnes and Jones Lake State Park Superintendent Greg Schneider recently discovered a small patch of threadleaf sundews in a utility right-of-way at the park. The plants only thrive in burned over areas, and continued maintenance of the right-of-way, along with a recent controlled burn, replicated the conditions the plants enjoyed before logging started and wildfires brought under control.


Unusual plant found at Jones Lake
By JEFFERSON WEAVER Staff Writer


A giant carnivorous plant lurks in the bogs of Jones Lake.
Compared to its relatives, Drosera filiformis, the threadleaf sundew, is a giant.
Most sundews are tiny, roughly the size of a fifty-cent piece and less than an inch in height. Filiformis, on the other hand, has tendrils several inches in height.
The sundews were found by Jones Lake State Park Superintendent Greg Schneider and Intern Justin Barnes. They found the plants recently while searching for a more famous carnivore, the Venus fly trap.
"Threadleafs glisten in sunlight," Schneider said. "That's what caught our eye immediately."
The smaller sundews are common, but threadleaf sundews have only been documented in a few areas of southeastern North Carolina in the past 25 years.
The plants thrive in the type of environment rarely seen in modern pine woodlands. Logging and a lack of major fires to clear out underbrush have eliminated most of the plant's habitat, although threadleafs can be found in some quantity farther south.
The recent find came in a boggy utility right-of-way where a recent controlled burn had cleared more underbrush. The right-of-way has been kept clean for years for maintenance crews.
The constant cleaning, the boggy soil, and the recent burn closely recreated the habitat common to southeastern North Carolina for centuries before logging operations began.
It's possible, Schneider said, that the threadleaf sundew plant's seed lay dormant for upwards of a quarter-century before the controlled burn and utility maintenance made conditions right for growth.
"Sundews thrive in a fire-friendly environment like we once had around here," Schneider said. "They tend to colonize areas most plants can handle, due to soil differences and a lack of nutrients."
Carnivorous plants don't need as many soil nutrients as others, so they can often be found in burnt-over areas like utility alleys.
In fact, Schneider and Barnes had trekked into the muddy utility meadow seeking other carnivorous plants that like burnt-over ground.
"We thought we'd find some more flytraps, or other species common to the bays," Schneider said. "We didn't expect a threadleaf sundew."
The pair didn't find any flytraps that day, but Schneider said other carnivorous plants, including bladderworts and yellow pitcher plants, are present in the area.
Sundews attract small ants and other bugs that crawl across the plant's surface. The insects are drawn by the dewy fluid secreted from the plant.
When the insect touches the hairy extensions on the plan's stems, the bug becomes stuck. The plant then curls its tendrils around the insect and begins secreting an enzyme that breaks down the unfortunate insect.
"A dwarf sundew can eat small ants or other tiny bugs," Schneider said. "This size plant is dangerous to larger ants and even some beetles."
Park officials hope area residents will report any findings of threadleaf sundews.
"This is a plant many botanists considered to be essentially gone," he said.
While the plant is considered "of special concern," by the federal government, Schneider said people finding the plants don't need to worry about reporting their finds.
"This isn't like a woodpecker," he said. "No one's going to come in and limit the uses of anyone's land over the threadleaf sundew. We just want to keep records of where the threadleaf can be found."
For more information on threadleaf sundews, contact the Jones Lake State Park at 588-4550.

Here's the link if you want to check it out.
http://www.bladenjournal.com/articles/2003/11/14/news/news01.txt

I'm sure that you can tell I'm very excited. D.filiformis is native to South eastearn NC but they are very rare, and I have never seen one in the wild. I searched part of this area a couple of years ago for cp's. I found U.gibba and another unknown bladderwort. I found a small bog in a ditch that was about twenty feet long and about 4 feet wide. The only cp I found in it was some more u.gibba.  I can't wait to get back home and look for this plant.
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Its nice to see they are still being discovered here and there. I would love to see any CPs in the wild.

Thanks Ozzy. Interesting article.
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There are a few more-or-less known sites for D. filiformis in North Carolina. I've seen it personally in Bladen (different site than the Jones Lake Bog site mentioned) and in Columbus counties. It's also rumored to grow in Pender County. Odd (though interesting) plant in that it forms such disjunct colonies -- New England, New Jersey, North Carolina and Florida (!) I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that it was once one wide swath from the Canadian Maritimes to North Carolina?
 
It's funny that you brought this topic back up today. I plan to try and find these plants tomorrow morning. I'll post the results of this within the next few days.
I'd like to talk to you a little more about these sites in private, when we get a chance.
 
I have alot to add to this story, but first I want to share a pm that I got that really made me think. Since I  didn't have time to ask permission to use this pm I'm not going to include who it was from.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]
I haven't been to the Green Swamp for 35 years, but I do remember some stands I found in Brunswick County in 1969. Early spring, and these were in the early morning sun, and red from bottom to top. The tentacles were bright red, and the way they caught the sun on that morning will stick in my memory forever. The entire plant was aflame, and it was too beautiful. The stands are gone now, but I remember. Take real good care of those babies Ozzy, they will need someone like you to make sure they are all right. Good growing!!

To get letters like this makes everything I've done so far to save the GreenSwamp worth it.
Now for the update.
I visited this site this morning.

Joneslakesign.jpg


First thing I did was to revisit a ditch where I found my first ever cp in the wild. U.gibba and maybe some other bladderwort. Not much to see this time of year but some slime.

BladderJones.jpg


bladderjones2.jpg


I then went searching for the D.filiformis and hopefully find some other plants on the way.
The only info I had about the location was the info in the article above. I searched the back roads for power lines. As I was searching I found a ditch with some moss, so I got out for a closer look. I looked but I didn't find anything. I followed the ditch and the moss for about a mile. I found some  D. capillaris in the ditch. This is the first sundew I have ever found in the county I was raised in, Bladen County.

Joneslakecapillaris.jpg


I searched all the roads that were not gated off, but this time of year most of them are gated. I had one more option, I went to the ranger station.
I talked to a ranger and asked if I see the D. filiformis. She told me that they had gone dormant for the year and right now there's nothing to see. They had looked for them 3 weeks ago and couldn't find them. I talked to her about the others cp's in the park. She told me that they have S.flavas, D.intermedia, D.capillaris, and of course the D.filiformis. I asked her about the vft's that I have heard that grew there and she told me that none have been seen in a long time. They are planning a burn in the area that they were last seen. They hope that they will make a comeback like the D.filiformis did.
One of the rangers has bought some books on cp's and it looks like they are going to turn alot of their attention to cp's.
Now for the best news. I have arranged a tour in the spring, totally free for anybody who can make it. We will be shown all of the above areas and get a permit to visit the restricted area Salter lake. I'm going to also plan more trips for other nearby sites (including the Green Swamp) for the same week.

Bladenlakessign.jpg
 
Hey Ozzy,

It says you have exceeded your daily bandwidth limit. I can't see your pics.
 
Yeah, after I left Jones Lake yesterday I drove 700 miles to get home. I saw that the pics wasn't working. I tryed for about a hour to fix them. I was just too tierd to work on them anymore, so I went to bed. Looks like I'm going to have to break out the $5 a month for pic hosting.

I bought more bandwidth and now the pics are working.
 
Nice pics...and interesting reading Ozzy. Congrats on your D. capillaris find. I bet I know who sent you that PM.
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I bet you don't.
 
  • #10
OK, Ozzy, so when is our tour, huh, huh?  
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(If I can get the old man to go to NC again, that is.)
 
  • #11
Well, I don't have a date set yet. I am working with Nick to set the date. So far I think it'll be in late may or early June. I'll make an post leting everybody know in the General forum as soon as I can.
 
  • #12
It is always nice to hear that a new population has been found, thank you for the information. Sadly I think the power-line right of ways are the last refuge, and with the change to herbicides we probably lost a grand amount of rare populations...
 
  • #13
WTG
Ozzy, so glad to hear that new or refound populations of these plants exist
Looking forward to seeing pix of your explorations I'll be there in spirit.
 
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