A rarity:
Notice anything peculiar about this plant? Why, yes--the flower is white! This is a rare variant of
Pinguicula caerulea that has pure white flowers. Very nice!
Several white-flowered plants were scattered among the normal colored variants, and it was fun looking for them.
More photographs of the Pinguicula:
A different view of the plant above;
Many flowers in contrasty conditions.
As I photographed, the sky grew ever more hazy. In time
I noticed that my images were picking up an orange cast. This confused me until I looked skyward and noticed that an enormous
plume of smoke, like a huge thunderhead, was towering overhead and blotting out the sun. Soon the smell of smoke started wafting
past me. I nervously finished my work and returned to the car at a quick pace.
Driving southwards, my car radio was buzzing with news of a massive wildfire in Holly Shelter, just a few kilometers away. This
was one of the places I was thinking about visiting, so obviously I needed to revise my plans. And I had to do it quickly, since
road after road was being shut down because of the wildfire. I opted to drive south, rapidly, and it was a good thing I did.
I managed to skitter out of the fire's path just before all my routes were closed off!
Safely south of the fire, I headed back to Brunswick County, to the area around Boiling Spring Lakes. I only had a few hours
left in the day but wanted to look at the colorful Dionaea I knew were in the area.
