Portrait of a Peatland, Part 3: A Deadly Beauty | Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area, New Jersey, USA
Taken along the boardwalk of Webb's Mill Bog.
In Part 2 of this series, we examined two of this remarkable site's carnivorous-plant species. Both have developed their own very different ways of trapping and digesting small animals that provide nutrients otherwise unavailable due to the bog soil's high acidity.
And here's a third. The very strange-looking plant at stage center is Drosera filiformis, the Threadleaf Sundew. Its foliage is festooned with hairs each tipped with a very sticky, mucilage-secreting gland. This gives the plant an unearthly aspect, and in the right lighting it seems to sparkle with a thousand tiny diamonds.
But to flying insects and other creatures this is a deadly beauty. Attracted to the glands, they often become mired in their organic glue. Then they're digested by secreted enzymes and absorbed by the leaf tissue.
To see the other photos and descriptions of this strangely beautiful ecosystem, visit my Portrait of a Peatland album.
Portrait of a Peatland, Part 3: A Deadly Beauty | Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area, New Jersey, USA
Taken along the boardwalk of Webb's Mill Bog.
In Part 2 of this series, we examined two of this remarkable site's carnivorous-plant species. Both have developed their own very different ways of trapping and digesting small animals that provide nutrients otherwise unavailable due to the bog soil's high acidity.
And here's a third. The very strange-looking plant at stage center is Drosera filiformis, the Threadleaf Sundew. Its foliage is festooned with hairs each tipped with a very sticky, mucilage-secreting gland. This gives the plant an unearthly aspect, and in the right lighting it seems to sparkle with a thousand tiny diamonds.
But to flying insects and other creatures this is a deadly beauty. Attracted to the glands, they often become mired in their organic glue. Then they're digested by secreted enzymes and absorbed by the leaf tissue.
To see the other photos and descriptions of this strangely beautiful ecosystem, visit my Portrait of a Peatland album.