Carnivorous Plants?

The Woodland Garden at the Nature Preserve is a work in progress. We now have two bridges over the brook, if you haven't been by lately, and stones line with waterway. Just above the basin at the end of the brook is a new bog featuring some truly unusual pitcher plants. No, you don't use them to get a drink from the stream. Contradictory to what we often think, the pitcher plant does not really look like the one we have in the fridge. Rather, most of them resemble goblets of all shapes and sizes! And they EAT insects!

With its deeply folded leaves, the cup-shaped plant stores up a sweet-smelling juice which lures an unsuspecting insect into its mouth. And when it is about to sip…an unfortunate thing happens. It falls in. Unable to climb back, this fallen insect flails helplessly in the fluid until it loses energy and submits to the overpowering force of its fate. See the fine hairs along the lip of the plant? They line the entire cup, and once an insect enters, it can't climb back out again.

So what happens to the ill-fated insect? Much like animals, the pitcher plant “eats” the poor thing up. How does this seemingly harmless plant do such thing? The secret lies in the juice. This liquid is no ordinary nectar. It actually contains chemicals (similar to those found in the stomach) that could slowly munch and swallow the skin of its prey until it dissolves completely—becoming the very juice that it once tried to drink.

How did the pitcher plant become meat eating? It actually took millions of years before simple, harmless leaves became carnivorous. Yes, it is the mysterious and wonderful product of natural selection! Nature itself favored the growth of leaves with larger dents until it became what we know today. The plant “evolved” because those that adapted to eat insects survived the poor and acidic soil conditions, obtaining the necessary proteins, nitrogen and other minerals it couldn’t just absorb from the soil like other plants.

The good news is, these are small plants and will not shout out "FEED ME!" like Audrey II did in Little Shop of Horrors! You are still safe walking through the Nature preserve!

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Do Bees Sleep?

As Patty and I walked to the Nature Center on this bright crisp fall morning, we noticed a collection of bees hanging on one of the fall blooming bushes, and they were absolutely still. Are they dead? What's wrong with them? It's OK, they are just asleep. The temperature got into the mid-40s overnight, and these bees simply grabbed onto a convenient branch to wait until the sun warmed them up again. At 9:30 they were asleep, and when I came by again around 11:00, they were still there. Surely they are dead, I thought. But a gentle poke in the leg made one of the stir and grumble, "Will you go away lady! It's not time to get up yet!" It was a great opportunity for a really close up photo of his eyes though.!

Do bees sleep? Ask this question of Google and be amazed at the answers you find. Over all, the replies are YES! Bees do sleep! Research done as recently as 1988 showed that bees at rest exhibit some of the same characteristics as humans in a sleep period: they don't move around, they don't react to stimuli very readily, their muscles relax, and their body temperature drops. So, while the buzzing in the hive is probably not snoring, research concludes that bees do sleep. (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=28485.0) Of course, the research had no conclusions on bee dreams, but there was a study showing that sleep deprived bees don't do the waggle dance right to show their hive mates where the nectar is.

Naturally yours,

~denapple

Kentucky Orchids?

Fragrant Ladies' Tresses

When I envision orchids, I think of the large purple orchids we used to wear to prom. And I expect them to come from the jungles of South America. Yet when I started learning about native wild flowers, I was amazed to see the variety of sizes, shapes and colors found in our Kentucky native orchids. Why am I talking about orchids in October? I found some Fragrant Ladies' Tresses blooming in the Woodland Garden here at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve today and was astounded!

 

Fragrant Ladies' Tresses

This particular species (Spiranthese cernua var. odorata) has been tissue cultured for years and is widely available in the nursery trade. It naturally occurs throughout much of the eastern United States although in Kentucky the variety odorata is very rare. This is a great garden plant because it really has no disease or insect problems and flowers late in the growing season, just starting to bloom now. Notice the unexpected twisting of the stalk.

 

Fringeless Purple Orchid

The Orchid family is considered the largest family of flowers, with over 23,000 species worldwide, primarily in tropical regions. Orchids found in the wild should be left in the wild, because they depend on fungi growing in the soil to supply nutrients to their roots.

 

Rose Pogonia

I expect to find orchids only in damp shady areas, and have been surprised to find them growing in bright sunlight, or in the middle of a large grassy field. The name "Pogonia" comes from a Greek word meaning "bearded," referring to the crest on the lip of most species.

 

Large Whorled Pogonia

This Large Whorled Pogonia resembles the large windmills being used so much lately to generate electricity. I would not have guessed it's an orchid at all.

 

Spring Coralroot

While the Lady Slipper orchids have large showy blossoms, the spring blossoms on this Coralroot are almost invisible, unless you get down on your knees with a magnifying glass!

 

 

Lady's Slippers are in the genus Cypripedium, a word derived from a Greek word referring to a "little foot", and they are also called "moccasin flowers" sometimes. Orchids are identified by their bilateral symmetry. One larger petal is often a highly specialized complex structure used to promote cross-pollination, such as the pouch in these Lady's Slippers. See, you don't have to travel to the jungles of South America to find exotic wildflowers!

Naturally yours,

~denapple