April 23, 2022

Seven members and friends of Unitarian Coastal Fellowship joined leader Tom Wentworth for a nature walk in Croatan National Forest on Saturday afternoon, April 23, 2022. The weather was perfect, which made for an excellent afternoon of fun and fellowship in a lovely outdoor setting! We made several stops along a forest road in our quest for early-flowering plants and any carnivorous plants.

Our focal areas were recently burned transitional wetlands between the drier Longleaf Pine Woodlands and the adjacent Pocosins (evergreen shrub bogs). We were able to find representatives of four of the five genera of carnivorous plants known to occur in this region. Our carnivorous finds were Dwarf Sundew, Venus Flytrap, Yellow Pitcherplant (in flower), and Zigzag Bladderwort (also in flower). We learned that carnivorous plants thrive in wet, nutrient-deficient habitats, obtaining nutrients from the small insect prey that they capture and digest.

Other conspicuous plants in flower were the Bearded Grass-Pink, a tiny pink orchid that tricks unsuspecting insects into pollinating it, and the Pineland Yellow-Eyed Grass, which is not a grass, but rather an iris-like plant. We all agreed to return soon, when the Venus Flytraps will be in full bloom, along with many additional species in flower!