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More Pinelands plants

Jul 222017

Three weeks ago I stopped by Wells Mills Bog to view some of the unique Pine Barrens plants, including orchids and carnivorous plants that can be found quite easily in this location due to the accessible boardwalk. Today I returned to see if I could find a few more of the unique pinelands plant species. The orchids and Bog Asphodel that were here on my last trip have finished blooming, but as I had hoped, a few new plants were now visible, even to my untrained eye.

This is Curly-grass Fern. It’s tiny, and so very easy to overlook. I love the namesake curly leaves.

Thread-leafed Sundew. A few white flowers can be seen, but the delicate sticky leaves of this carnivorous plant are the star of the show here for me.

This is Short-leafed Milkwort. It was one of the more common flowers visible today. It is such an unusual flower, but the small clusters are easy to overlook.

A little bit further up the road one of the late summer wild orchids was starting to bloom.

This is White-fringed Orchid, a nice ~5 inch cluster of pure white flowers.

A Day for Flowers (mostly)

Jul 032017

After a morning stop at Brig that was highlighted by a pair of Common Gallinules, a singing Yellow-breasted Chat, and the largest concentration of Glossy Ibises that I can remember ever seeing in New Jersey, I decided to spend some time looking for interesting wildflowers. It was a brutally hot day, so it turned into a one-stop search at the Webbs Mills bog and boardwalk within the Greenwood WMA. The highlights were three species of carnivorous plants and two of New Jersey’s wild orchids. Let’s let the photos do the talking today.

Part of the large group of Glossy Ibises at Brig today. The flock was so dense in some areas that it was not possible to count them accurately. I estimate that at least 300 Ibises were there today.

Spatulate-leaved Sundew, which captures prey on those sticky leaves.

The flower of the Pitcher Plant, one of three carnivorous plants seen today.

This is the base of the Pitcher Plant.

Horned Bladderwort is a carnivorous plant that was flowering all over the bog.

Golden Crest. Its flowers are small but gorgeous. It was very common in the bog.

This is Rose Pogonia, which was the most common orchid that I saw today.

Grass Pink, one of our wild orchids here in New Jersey. I only saw a few of these today.

This is Bog Asphodel or ‘Bog Candle’, which is in the lily family. This plant, which is endemic to the Pine Barrens, was found in a very dense grouping, relatively distant from the boardwalk.

And since we’re on an orchid theme, here’s one that we found in another part of New Jersey this past May: Showy Orchis.

This was a ‘lifer’ orchid that we stumbled upon this past spring: Showy Orchis.