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solved:Hooded Pitcher Plant

Started by Tom, August 19, 2001, 02:28:27 PM

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Tom

Is it grass? is it a conifer? What makes it special?

                                    

CHARLIE

I'm gonna have to guess without seeing the picture. For some reason, my 'pooter won't pull it up.
I'm guessing by your statement that it's a young longleaf pine seedling. Long leaf pine are straight and tall, which makes for good lumber. The wood is also hard and resist insect attack pretty well.  If this is wrong, I'll have to wait 'til I can see the picture  :-/
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Tom

Oh Charlie,

You definitely need to see the picture on this one.  I have mislead you tremendously with my questions.

Gordon

Charlie, Tom is fooling us on this one. It's really some dwarf python snakes. In the nest.8) 8) 8)

Ha got number twentyfour
NOT
Gordon

Texas Ranger

Nah, not pythons (Monty would be ashamed!) but a hooded, bug eating cobra, a swamp loving creature, that is prominent in the south, and considered rare and endangered in Texas to the point of having large tracts "preserved" to keep it alive, only to find that when the brush came in, the "cobras" were shaded out.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

Tom

Come on Staples,

you got to bust that mark somewhere.  Here is another one you have the answer too.  I'll bet you could write a book on it.  you know......like with the natural design of the inside that disallows a victim from escaping and the one animal thatcan.

Some are slick and some are hairy, some have little windows in them to let the light enter.  What marvelous creation.

There is going to be a lot of "little people" looking at the site before long because of Jeff's involvement in MFRA.  We have to be able to answer questions with good simple interesting answers and these whatzit pictures may draw a lot of attention.  

Heck, we might have to go back and put some more information on the existing ones that have already been solved.  That would be a worthwhile project.  Everybody will have a different description and that's good because all these kids don't hear the same words.  

Gordon

Don your example of the snake is much better than mine. The "hooded" covering of the cobra that is. Well the basball game is coming on and there is a new "pitcher" tonight. Or else I could just go and help the wife dig a hole for a "plant" or two.

Guess u-all get the picture, ur-um pitcher.

 :D :D :D
Gordon

Texas Ranger

Tom, I was husbanding these critters 35 years ago when the The Big Thicket National Preserve was being formed in Texas.  We had some REAL ecofreaks that decided this plant was one that would break the back of the logging industry by cutting off big chunks of the woods because of their presense.  I have grown them in pots, and in a "wet" area of my yard.  They are neat, and there are a number of species.

But I like the idea of other folks working on the answer.  Learn more that way.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

Tom

Well OK,  I'll buy that. Bet you could have written a really interesting piece on it though.  Not everybody has the years of experience and I don't mean that so much from the "identification" side but of the explanation and description side.  I sure would like to hear the stories after this is identified.

Gordon

So it's not a hooded pitcherplant. So what could it be?

Venus fly trap

Gordon

Tom

Naw not a venus fly trap.....you got it.......a pitcher plant.  Good show Gordon.

There is a good, short write-up on enature.com that contains the following paragraph.

.......Because of the hood-like dome at the tip of the leaf, rain is not collected in this species. Instead, insects and other small organisms are lured up a nectar path on the wing of the leaves and into the hood where there are translucent spots through which the victims try to escape. Unable to do so, they eventually exhaust themselves and drop to the base of the leaf. The plant secretes a liquid that digests the organism and the resulting nutrients are then absorbed by the plant.

I have understood that there are hairs inside that point downward that prevent an insect from climbing back up the wall.  I vaguely remember hearing of one insect that can climb down in the plant, get a meal and climb back out unscathed.  I may have another carnivorous plant confused with this one because I can find nothing on it.. That information is clear as a bell in my head.  Maybe someone else can clear it up.

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