The Trip:
In early March of 2008, I had a few days of travel in northern Florida. It was not enough time to do the area justice,
so I had to do some careful prioritizing and planning.
I developed the following shopping list of plants I hoped to see, none of which I had seen in the wild:
Pinguicula ionantha
Pinguicula primuliflora
Utricularia floridana
Sarracenia rubra subsp. gulfensis.
But, supplanting even those targets, I hoped most of all to find populations of "red"
Drosera filiformis.
In northern Florida, the common species of threadleaf sundew is a large greenish plant called
Drosera tracyi. But the strange "red" plants appear to be disjunct populations of
Drosera filiformis, a plant of the Atlantic Coast.
The occurrences of these red plants in Florida is a mystery! Are they artificial plantings? Are they satellite populations?
Or do they represent a local, unique variant?
I contacted a few Floridians I knew and told them of my intended travels. I was delighted when three were able to take time from their
schedules to travel in the field with me. This complicated the travel
logistics, but having the extra pairs of experienced eyes and regional
expertise increased the chances of finding plants during this non-optimal season.
Start the photo-essay!
