NATURALIST'S 



NOTEBOOK 



Insect-Eating 

 Plants Thrive m 

 Green Swamp 



w. 



By Ann Green 

 Photographs by Mike Dunn 



men a beetle lands on a yellow pitcher plant in the Green Swamp 

 Preserve, it often falls victim to the deadly plant. 



The sweet nectar secreted by the plant's glands draws the beetle inside the tube 

 that is shaped like a pitcher of water. 



As the beetle slides down the tube into the plant's yellow stem, it loses its 

 footing on the slippery surface that is covered with downward-pointing stiff hairs. 

 Then it is trapped inside and digested. 



Other small insects and animals also can get trapped in the large number of 

 insect-eating plants in the Green Swamp in Brunswick County, where herbaceous 

 plants abound. 



Owned by the North Carolina Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the swamp 

 is home to 14 varieties of carnivorous plants — from aquatic plants with tiny traps to 

 species up to three feet tall. 



"The Green Swamp is one of the best places to see insect-eating plants," says 

 Mike Dunn, coordinator of teacher education at the North Carolina Museum of 

 Natural Sciences in Raleigh. "You can find the dead insect remains of meals inside a 

 yellow pitcher plant tube. I have also seen a small lizard trapped in a Venus flytrap, 

 although the plant usually just traps small invertebrates." 



A diorama of the swamp's savanna habitat is on permanent display at the 

 Museum of Natural Sciences. 



Insect-eating plants thrive in boggy areas like the Green Swamp where the soil 

 is poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen. The southeastern corner of North Carolina 

 has a greater diversity of insectivorous plants than any other state, according to 

 Lundie Spence, North Carolina Sea Grant marine education specialist. 



To adapt to a nitrogen-poor environment, the plants absorb nitrogen and other 

 necessary minerals from insect prey trapped through their leaves. 



One of the swamp's most prevalent insect-eating plants is the Venus flytrap that 

 flourishes near the edge of the pocosin and savanna. 



Insects are attracted to the plant because of its brilliant red color and sweet- 

 tasting nectar. 



Continued 



BACKGROUND PHOTO: Pines flourish in the Green Swamp's savanna. 

 FAR LEFT: Purple pitcher plants have large, colorful flowers. 

 MIDDLE LEFT: Yellow pitcher plants are shaped like a pitcher of water. 

 LEFT: Venus flytrap is a protected species in North Carolina. 



COASTWATCH 27 



