Natural habitat of the VFT...Maryland??

[darksky]

I have heard for years that the Venus Fly Trap occurs in my area and the periphery of the Chesapeake Bay. I assumed that there were only small isolated pockets of such areas because I had never seen any plants in the wild. Now that I am more interested in getting to the heart of the matter, I find that the literature I have consulted indicate that the plants are only naturally occurring in N.C. and S.C. on islands that are ideal in soil content and conditions (including naturally occuring fires that provide non-competetive areas for the VFT). So what am I dealing with here? These are either incorrect annecdotal evidence or perhaps the plant has been introduced in some areas. A third possibility is that Dionaea occurs here. I have emailed the President of Blackwater Wildlife Refuge who tells me that they are found here. I have now asked him specifically where the locations are and hope to photograph the plants and the environment. I await his response.
Any comments on this?

Darksky

 

[chris]

woo hoo!

another marylander! that makes 3 (at least)

tristan is also from MD. (im from germantown)

ive never heard of local flytraps or any other cp's but if you find otherwise lemme know!

 

[darksky]

Hi Chris. I have seen pitcher plant before here. I'm in Ocean Pines and have seen these plants in swampy areas but I had no focused interest at that time so I did not record the location or identify the species. I love the outdoors and probably was searching for reptiles or anphibians. Certainly, the bogs in Western Md contain various sundews and pitcher plants so we definitely have CPs but Dionaea? I am skeptical now. Seems like it has become (sub)urban legend. I'm working on the finding truth. BTW, in my original post I said "President of Blackwater" and it should have been, "President of Friends Of Blackwater".
Darksky

 

[Guest]

#Moderation Mode



Moved here

 

[gr8oz]

There have been reports of fly traps being discovered in all sorts of places around the country. I've heard about sightings in the FL panhandle, California, all sorts of places. Anywhere outside of the plant's native range, which is supposed to be a 60 square mile area near Cape Fear in North Carolina, has been manmade. It seems a few cp enthusiasts can't help but encourage the fly trap to expand its range. Interestingly -- and I'm not a geologist or astronomer, so don't hold me to this --it's said that the Venus' Fly Trap grows naturally in an area once struck by a meteorite.

 

[darksky]

I'm still hoping to find out where the legend comes from here. In Maryland , we do have bogs and carniverous plants so at least in that sense, it is worth taking the reports seriously and finding out the truth here.
As far as meteorites go, I am an amatuer astronomer. Meteorites have a varied chemical and mineral makeup depending on what type of progenitor they came from. One thing is for sure: metoerites can only enrich the surrounding area with minerals, not deplete it. Therefore I would suspect that in the unlikely event that a meteorite were to scatter material into an area, the soil would only become a poorer environment for a plant that is adversely affected by mineral-rich soils. I'll have to dig up Day Of The Trifids to see if a meteorite was responsible for that debacle!
Russ