TAKE A HIKE

If you want to examine East Texas’ fesh-eating fora, hit these trails.

The Pitcher Plant Trail in the Big Thicket National Preserve’s Turkey Creek Unit is a 1-mile loop about 40 miles north of Beaumont that’s free to the public.

The Nature Conservancy’s Roy E. Larsen Sandyland Sanctuary is just down the road. The 6 miles of trails there are also free to access.

sticky ooze. Bugs looking for water get stuck in the butterwort’s secretions, triggering enzymes that break down their soft body parts.

That’s OK. Now I have another reason to return to East Texas: to continue my search for these unusual little plants.

I glance at the vegetation around me. Until now, I’ve thought of all these flowers, bushes, trees and vines as a sort of soft green wallpaper to the outdoors. Now, the carnivorous ways of some of these plants have given me a new jolt of respect. D