SUNLIGHT AND A DASH OF PROTEIN

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Sunlight

AND A DASH OF PROTEIN

Insects beware! Eastern North Carolina is part of a narrow region that’s home to a multitude of carnivorous plants.

BY CORINNE SAUNDERS

THE PLANT’S RED, JAW-LIKE LEAVES SIT OPEN, WAITING. An insect bumps into one tiny, hairlike protrusion inside the leaf, keeps crawling and touches another. That second contact seals its fate; it triggers the plant to close its trap and signals its digestive enzymes to begin working on its prey.

This isn’t the premise of a sci-fi novel though – it’s simply how the offi cial state carnivorous plant of North Carolina supplements photosynthesis with enough nutrients to survive.

The Venus fl ytrap – also known as the meadow clam, or, scientifi cally, Dionaea muscipula – has long fascinated everyone from Thomas Jeff erson to Charles Darwin, but many would likely still be surprised to learn that this plant only grows naturally within a 75-mile radius around Wilmington, North Carolina.

Scientists aren’t sure exactly why the Venus fl ytrap is endemic to this particular area (which extends slightly into South Carolina), but they hypothesize that geology might be a factor. This zone is also known as the Cape Fear Arch, and in the past 60 million years it has experienced periods of geologic uplift, often raising it above sea level at times when most of the Coastal Plain was underwater, according to Michael Schafale, an ecologist with the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, and Brenda Wichmann, a state botanist with the same program.

“This area has more extensively sandy soils than the areas to the north and south, so the landscape confi guration may have been more favorable to the regular fi res that Venus fl ytraps need,” Schafale notes, referencing the fact that these small plants rely on an open understory in order to receive enough sunlight to prosper.

Wild Venus fl ytraps also used to be more abundant in this area than they are today, Wichmann adds, but development impacts, changes in hydrology, fi re suppression and poaching have begun to threaten the species.

Popularity has its pitfalls, after all. Consumer demand for these plants rarely lags, but because they need such specifi c environments in order to thrive, cultivating them isn’t easy – a conundrum that’s driven many to poaching as an easy alternative. Fueling an active black market and further threatening the species’ survival, these thefts made offi cials take note several years ago, and in 2014 removing Venus fl ytraps from the wild in North Carolina changed from a misdemeanor to a Class H felony punishable by up to 25 months in prison.

The fi rst felony arrest in this state took place in January 2015, but it wasn’t the last. Several fl ytrap poaching arrests in North Carolina have made national, and even international, news since then, with coverage in outlets such as The Washington Post, The Guardian and The New York Post as recently as 2019.

The humble (and hungry) common bladderwort.

WHILE VENUS FLYTRAPS WOULD MOST ASSUREDLY WIN a carnivorous plant popularity contest, they’re not the only ones growing in this state. Broadly speaking, there are fi ve main carnivorous plant types in the world (with some found on every continent but Antarctica): Venus fl ytraps, butterworts, bladderworts, sundews and pitcher plants.

North Carolina is home to all fi ve.

In this state, carnivorous plants inhabit longleaf pine savannas, Southern Appalachian bogs and the coastal plain, with habitats that are typically wet with acidic or otherwise low-nutrient soil.

“They’re basically making up for a lack of nutrients,” explains Rachel Veal, a conservation horticulturist with the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. “They do photosynthesize too, but they get the nutrients they need from animals.”

Within the fi ve main types of carnivorous plants, there are more than 600 species worldwide. According to The Nature Conservancy, 66 of those species are found in the United States, and an astounding 36 of those live in North Carolina – but despite this abundance, Veal notes that people often still believe carnivorous plants only grow in more exotic locales.

She speculates that this widespread assumption mostly comes down to the fact that people don’t often frequent the habitats where carnivorous plants reign supreme – at least while the plants are blooming and more noticeable – such as buggy, swampy areas during the summer.

“Some [like bladderworts] are small and easily overlooked, too. Even for people who notice them, it isn’t readily apparent that they’re carnivorous,” she adds. “It’s easy to assume they’re not from a temperate area – especially if you’ve lived in North Carolina your whole life and have never seen one.”

EVEN DARE COUNTY CAN CLAIM CARNIVOROUS PLANTS AS LOCAL RESIDENTS. Of the fi ve broad types of carnivorous plants, three of them grow here naturally: bladderworts, sundews and pitcher plants.

“One that’s probably the easiest to see here is a bladderwort,” Veal says, pointing out that they’re most common on Blueberry Trail in Nags Head Woods, though they can also be found in Kitty Hawk and Buxton woods.

Bladderworts are the largest genus of carnivorous plants, with more 220 species worldwide according to Wichmann – 16 of which fl ourish in North Carolina, and 10 of which call the Outer Banks home. They can’t grow in saltwater, however, and natural freshwater sources are somewhat limited on the Outer Banks.

And even in areas with favorable interdunal ponds, bladderworts can be hard to spot. Standing only two to three inches above the water’s surface (including the tips of their tiny, yellow fl owers, which bloom from late winter to early spring), the majority of its carnivorous action occurs underwater where the plant’s specialized bladder suctions up its latest snack.

While bladderworts prey below the surface, sundews use sticky pads to trap insects above ground. Slightly less common than bladderworts, North Carolina boasts fi ve species of sundews, two of which grow in Dare County: pink sundews and spoonleaf sundews.

The spoonleaf sundew (also called a water sundew) can be found in Currituck, Dare and Camden counties in standing waters, pools, ditches, pocosin openings and depression pools in maritime forests, according to Wichmann. The pink sundew has been reported in Dare and Hyde counties, but tends to do well in general from southeast Virginia down to Florida and as far west as Texas.

The Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on mainland Dare is home to yet another carnivorous species: yellow pitcher plants. They start blooming locally by May or June, and continue until they go dormant in the fall. Though Veal notes that they often look greener in color and can vary in size, they tend to grow about knee-high in low, swampy areas, and they’re named for the distinctive shape of their traps. Consumer demand Insects are attracted to the nectar that these for these plants rarely plants produce, but once unsuspecting bugs lags, but because they need such specifi c venture down inside the pitcher to begin feeding, downward-pointing hairs and a waxy interior prevents them from climbing back out. environments in order “They fall down and basically turn into nutrient to thrive, cultivating soup,” Wichmann explains. them isn’t easy – a Veal has personally cut open old pitchers to conundrum that’s examine their contents – which is essentially several driven many to poaching as an easy inches of bug juice. While all manner of crawling insects can be found in that mix, pollinators such as bees are rarely among them due to the shape of the alternative. pitcher plant’s fl owers, which help shield pollinators from becoming unintended prey. This selective diet, consisting mostly of ants, spiders and beetles seems to be common among carnivorous plants, including Venus fl ytraps. And while that might seem puzzling in terms of meat-eating fl ora, it’s important to bear in mind that they’re ultimately guided just like any other being toward survival – and for that, they’ll always need some assistance from pollinators.

FOR MOST CASUAL OBSERVERS, the chance to see a carnivorous plant in action is a huge part of the thrill these plants inspire – and numerous visitors at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island have experienced exactly that since the spring of 2020.

“If you stand there long enough, you’ll see them catch things,” Veal says about the aquarium’s small carnivorous plant garden that lies on the grounds just to the right of the building’s front entrance.

This collection of about eight carnivorous plant species, including examples of North Carolina-native Venus fl ytraps and pitcher plants was donated by a longtime aquarium volunteer, and it’s the most recent addition to the site’s outdoor exhibits, which already featured a pollinator garden, a rain garden and an in-process maritime forest restoration area.

“It’s been a good way to engage people about native plants [and their] habitats,” Veal says. “All [of the aquarium’s gardens] are open year-round, but the most ‘action’ happens from April to October.”

Many guests, while excited to see the plants, don’t arrive understanding just how local the carnivorous species are, however.

“If you ask,” she adds, “most people will say, ‘They’re tropical,’ every time.”

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