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A visit to Darlingtonia country


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Hi all,

this is the second part of my trip report, which will describe habitats in and near Gasquet, a small place at highway 199. When you get by there, do not forget to visit the ranger station and talk to the rangers. They are usually quite helpful.

I stumbled across the first site accidentally during my previous visit in 1998. This is what it looks like:

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It is a small creek or better a set of small creeks running slowly through an open woodland. Darlingonia can usually be found in the wettest parts either in or very near the flowing water. In somewhat drier spots P. macroceras ssp. nortensis and D. rotundifolia can be found. If you have a lot of imagination, you can see all three of them in the second picture above (D. rotundifolia ist the red stuff in front of and behind the largest stone in the foreground of the picture). Some of those plants are growing in the open, other among high grasses.

The Darlingtonia are quite scattered here, not forming large colonies in contrast to the other 2 sites you see below.

11za2.th.jpg 12yn7.th.jpg 15ro5.th.jpg

The next picture shows the same spot as the second picture above. It is still not very obvious, but nevertheless easier to spot the D. rotundifolia on this picture (watch out for the red spots in the brown mosses). However, in the final two shots from this site D. rotundifolia should be easier to find :happy:

13ex7.th.jpg 14qy8.th.jpg 16dp6.th.jpg

For some reasons I got the impression, that the P. macroceras ssp. nortensis in this site produced relatively few flowers (judging from the number of inflorescences I found).

Now to the next site. I visited this one in 1996, 1998 and, of course, this year again. It is located at a trail in a forest a few steps out of Gasquet. At some point some very small creek - well that is some exageration, as the amount of water coming by is very small - crosses the trail. Right along the trail a handfull of Darlingtonia were growing. That is quite a few more as ten years ago it only was a single plant. The larger number of plants can be found downhill growing among bushes.

The first picture shows the trail in the direction I went, the second shows the same spot from the other direction.

22ze0.th.jpg 21br3.th.jpg

This year the downhill plants did not look too good. In 96, the site looked similar with bushes and Darlingtonia fighting for light. In 1998, the bushes were cleared away and the Darlingtonia looked much healthier. In addition, very recently someone must have walked right through the large Darlingtonia plants leaving huge footprints with destroyed pitchers.

23ud4.th.jpg 24ux8.th.jpg

The third site is probably one of the best known Darlingtonia sites. I am talking about the Darlingtonia Trail (or Botanical Trail) which I visited for a first time this year. However, I have frequently seen pictures of this one in the past.

Do not take the "trail" part too serious, it is according to the information leaflet a 0.2 mile round trip and the Darlingtonia site is wheelchair accessible! Other interesting plants may be found along the trail, but I managed only to see lots of Iris well past their flowering season.

This location is very different in one respect from all others I visited this time and on the previous occasions: the plants seem to grow in standing water.

Two platforms make it easy to get close to the plants and to watch them without stepping on plants or destroying something else.

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Enjoy!

Dieter

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Ha ... When-I was Redirected-to Imageshack it Mentioned that You were Using The 'Same' Model-of-Camera that I-Bought for Christmas!!! >(*U^)<

Here's an Image of Drosera-praefolia that The-'Same' Make-&-Model-of-Camera 'Took'-in-Australia Earlier This-Year! >(*U^)<

IMG_3127JPG-50-RESIZED.jpg

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Well, I-'Learnt' Another ["Don't-Do"] 'Today' >(*~*)< ... Don't Use The SUPERFINE Function When-in Super-Macro Mode Only Use 'FINE' When in Super-Macro Mode!!!

Makes Every Pixel 'Slightly' Blurry ... 'Not'-Much ... but Enough to Annoy-You!!! >(*U^)<

Even-in 'Macro'-Mode ie:

IMG_4930JPG-50-RESIZED.jpg

IMG_4931JPG-50-RESIZED.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

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