Field trip report: Hybrids at Old Dock Preserve, North Carolina

2016·1.1 MB·English

by  Mason Mcnair

Field trip report: Hybrids at Old Dock Preserve, North Carolina
Mason McNair • 1401-208 Coopershill Dr. Apt 208 • Raleigh • North Carolina 27604 • USA
• [email protected]
Keywords: Sarracenia, fieldtrip report, natural hybrids.
Iawaketotheblaringsoundofmycellphone’salarm. It’s 6:30amandIamstrugglingto forcemy-
selfawakeaftertheexhaustingheatandhumidityweexperiencedthedaybeforewhilehiking“million
flava field.” Spot Cullenis already awake andmuchtoo chipperfor someone functioning ononly six
hours ofsleep aftera 36-hour flight andthe airline losing nearly all ofhis luggage along the way. We
getready forourday,joinourothergroupmember, DarytFrank, and“enjoy” somehotel breakfastof
eggs, over-cookedturkeybacon, andmake-your-ownwaffles. We thenloadthe carand drive anhour
to meet Brad Wilson and Rick McCarthy so we can tour our first location ofthe day in Columbus
County, North Carolina (NC), the famous Old Dock Preserve owned by the North Carolina Nature
Conservancy. They were kind enough to give us permission to visit the Preserve to photograph the
plants.ThislocationisknownasthebestnaturalpopulationofSarraceniaminorremaininginNC.We
areexpectingto seeS.flava,S.purpurea subsp. venosa,S. minor andthehybridsS. xcatesbaei(flava
,
xpurpurea) andS. xswaniana (minorxpurpurea), aswellasDrosera intermedia,D. capillaris,Pin-
guicula caerulea, and a few Utricularia. We meet Brad and Rick near the Green Swamp and I give
them a quick rundown ofall we are going to see and then drive the remaining halfhour to our first
location. We drive downdusty, sandyloggingroads, strugglingtokeep the carstraightasweprogress
to ourdestination.Whenwe arrive andthedust settleswe coverourselves insunscreenandbug spray.
Themosquitoesfromthislocationareinfamous forcausingpain, itching, andsevere swellinginsome
cases. Ioncebroughtafriendtothissiteandbythetimewelefthiseyeswerenearlyswollenshutfrom
all ofthe mosquito bites. We walk past the locked gate and down the road until I find the unusually
drypath into the savannah. Theweeks leadingup to this trip have beenincrediblydrywithvery little
rainfall. We immediately spot the mounds ofD. intermedia in full bloom with lots ofS.flava as we
make ourway throughthe overgrownwiregrass (Aristidastricta), bogmyrtle (Morelia caroliniensis),
andinkberryholly(Ilexglabra).AsIleadthewaythroughthebrushI’monthelookoutforthedomed
headsofS. minor,whichindicatethatthehybridsarenearby. IpassdozensofS.purpureaandS.flava,
but no S. minor. Then I spot the first S. minor with pathetic looking pitchers from the Exyra moth
larvae that plague pitcher plant bogs throughout the Southeastern U.S. I’m getting close! I continue
onward for a few minutes passing many beautiful specimens along the way, but I’m looking for a
specificpatch ofnearlya dozenS. xswaniana that isprime forphotographing. I findtheplants, take
afewphotos, andwaitforBradto setup sohe cantakephotos ofhis own.Whilehe setsuphistripod,
I continue downthe overgrown, nearly invisible pathto see what I can find. I locate a few additional
niceS. xswanianato showthe group andsome greatclumps ofS. minor. ThenI stumbleuponone of
the most excitingthings Ihave everfoundonany ofmynumerousplant expeditions.
I’m looking at a single plant ofS. x harperi, the natural hybrid between S.flava and S. minor
(Fig. 1), and only about a yard away is a complex hybrid involving all three Sarracenia species
found at this site (Fig. 2). I call Brad over to confirm my identification ofthe plants and he agrees.
We have found the firstrecord ofboth ofthese hybrids inNC!
Based on the distribution ofS. minor and S.flava in NC it would seem likely that one might be
able to find this hybrid in any ofthe three counties in which they both reportedly occur, but this
particularhybrid is extremelyrare.As faras I cantell, neitheroftheseplants has everbeenrecorded
Volume 45 March 2016 27
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Figure 1: Sarracenia x harperi, the natural hybrid between S. flava and S. minor found at
Old Dock Preserve.
in NC. One reason for this is because in NC, S.
minor typically blooms two to four weeks later
thanS.flava. This leaves only avery small win-
dowforthese speciestohybridize.There are few
resourcesthatlistS. xharperiasoccurringinthe
state, but none have links to verified reports or
herbarium specimens. I personally believe that
manyoftheseresourcesbasethisonthedistribu-
tionofthe speciesratherthanconfirmedreports.
I have searched through the herbaria at many
local institutions including NCSU and UNC-
Chapel Hill for specimens ofthese hybrids from
North Carolina but to no avail. And a search of
online herbariayields no results.
I actually photographed the same S. x har-
peri nearly two years ago ontwo separate occa-
sions not knowing exactly what I was looking
at. However, the complex hybrid I had never
seen before despite the two plants being only
Figure 2: A complex hybrid involving
a few feet apart. Even ifsomeone has reported Sarracenia flava S. minor, and S. purpurea
this hybrid from the state before, this is still a subsp. venosa.
significant findbecause ofthe extreme rarity of
these hybrids.
28 Carnivorous Plant Newsletter