The Hibernaculum

This is the second of several reports on my recent exploration of the Butterfly Valley Botanical Area.  In order to entice a certain friend to come along, I dug a few photos out of my archive from last summer.  Above is a pair of Damselflies that I watched make an unfortunate landing on a Sundew.  They had been flying in tandem preliminary to mating.  When they got stuck on the Sundew, they separated and began to struggle to get free.  I found a needle of Ponderosa Pine nearby and was able to carefully free each one.  The first one flew off and landed on a nearby lily.  I freed the second one a few seconds later, and it immediately found its partner and they flew off together in tandem.

Here's a better view of  Sundew unencumbered by its prey.  These two photos were taken in early summer.  I had no idea if I'd find Sundew in October.  Fortunately, my friends Spencer and Dalynn knew of the Sundew's winter survival habit, the production of a structure known as a hibernaculum, or winter bud.  Dalynn was determined to see one.  We spent some time searching the areas of the bog where Sundews are abundant in the summer, and were getting discouraged.  Most of those bright red leaves had shriveled out of sight for winter.  Finally, while Spencer and I were wandering around and photographing other things, Dalynn let out a yell.  She had found a Sundew with a hibernaculum.

Here's the scene (above) from about 3 feet away.  I'd never have found this on my own because I didn't know what to look for. 

Here's a close-up.  Click on it for an enlarged view.  The bulbous structure in the middle is the hibernaculum and to either side you can see summer leaves in different stages of shriveling up for winter.  I did some reading about these and discovered that they are heavier than water.  Before the snow flies, they usually sink below the surface and are thus protected from freezing.  In spring after the snow melt they produce new shoots that grow into plants like the ones in the first two photos.

Here's a photo of the bug-catching leaf of a Pitcher Plant taken last summer.  The colorful, mottled look of these in the fall is shown in a photo I posted recently.  Just scroll back past the Orange Peels.

This is what the flower of Pitcher Plant looked like last summer.  By the fall, they are mostly dried up and shriveled beyond recognition.  I didn't get any good photos of them in this state, but Spencer did.  Check out his report on Spencer Dykstra Photography. 

In my previous post I showed a cut across the base of a stem revealing the collection of partially digested bugs.  Here I've made a longitudinal cut to reveal the bugs more clearly.

Carnivorous plants are just a few among the many wonders of the Butterfly Valley Botanical Area.  There's more to come.