The Florida Carnivorous Plant Society

Despite the fact of threatening weather, the time had come. After a few months of planning logistics with Barry Rice, researching maps and old notes, adventure was so close i could almost taste it. I've searched in the past years for the famed Florida D. filiformis....YES, friend, Florida D. filiformis "red"... in all of it's red glistening sticky goodness. My search always ended fruitless. The Holy Graile never achieved...

BUT, that was about to change. Despite my  years of frequenting the Fl. Panhandle and photographing every native,(and non-native) species of CP throughout the state of Florida i could find, I'd never stumbled across The Mighty D. filiformis "red".. I was beginning to think it didn't exist here. Boy, was i wrong. Tomorrow, I would finally come face to face with The Great One.

March 14th, 7:45 AM. The Adventure begins...

After a very nutritious and heart palpitating breakfast of peanut M&M's and strong coffee,(which i usually live off of in the field, along with beef jerky), I called Barry. He was headed my way...I could hear the excitement in his voice, like that of a child. He was smitten the same as I. The Mighty filiformis had a hold on him as well....and luring both us to it's dewy abode. Accompanying him was Bob McMorris and Jim Miller, two noted CP veterans in the field. I really was looking forward to meeting them as well. Just as i sipped my coffee, the phone rang.  "Where ya at? Barry asked..."About twenty minutes from you" I replied. The weather had been quite miserable all that morning, with gusty wind-driven rain. But...the rain was...stopping! Yes, it WAS meant to be! And yes, it was perfect timing indeed.

The clouds seemed to magically part above me as i arrived to the first site. Barry, Bob and Jim were already there and heading down the steep embankments to paradise. I quickly grabbed my hat, camera and a nasty flavored water beverage... and was off. The long rocky path winded down to a large pond with a broad, white sugar sand shoreline. I could see three figures lurking in the tall grasses, as if searching for rarest of gemstones, in a wavy sea of green. In a way, they truly were. Now, I never would have suspected D. filiformis to grow in such a pure, white sand soil. But it did, it will and it does. It wasn't long before Bob yelled out "I got one", soon to be followed by Jim proclaiming his victory as well..The sound of cameras charging in unison was quite audible above the stillness. And then...I saw them. In all of their glistening, beckoning and sticky goodness. Scattered thickly along the shoreline, like a thousand of the finest red rubys, with arms stretched towards Heaven. Alas, The Mighty filiformis "red" stood before me. I expected to see pixies dancing around with fairy dust...be carried away by giant butterflies. The magic was strong.  I was under their spell. I numbly reached for my camera...

I noticed that the Florida strain was much smaller than the other northern forms i've grown in the past, such as the D. filiformis "Pine Barrens" form. I attribute this to a lack of proper dormancy, due to the lack of true Winter that we have here in Florida. Obviously, these specimens had adapted well, but the price they've had to pay over time is weaker, smaller growth and thinner leaves. Also, there was two color variants present; one with a golden leaf color ("golden chalice form") and one that was completely blood-red. I also noted that there was absolutely no D. filiformis var. tracyi present at all. Both forms grew in pure white sugar sand in very wet conditions. I contribute it's color to the reflection of the sun from the bright white sand and also coloring the leaves from underneath, as these are in full sun all day. Both types had the remnants of countless seed spikes all around, offering me a sense of comfort and hopefully ensuring the well-being of this populus for next season.... Both forms were simply amazing and appeared to have a light coating of fine confectioners' sugar on their leaves from the previous rains earlier that day. Or.....WAS it fairy dust?

I hastily snapped several pictures, still captivated by the beauty which was lain out before me. Accompanying them, was some of the reddest Fl. sphagnum I'd ever seen. It grew along the edges of the embankment near the treeline, along with clubmoss, which provided a gorgeous background for several pictures. Jim Miller was video-taping some scenes for his next CP- DVD release, for which he is a noted authority in the field. And Barry....well, i think he was still under the spell of the Great One, such as I and couldn't quite decide which glistening subject he wanted to photograph first. We scrambled around the site with the excitement of Alan Lowrie, when he finds a new species of Drosera. For a brief moment, we were all children again and acting as if we had awakened to find a shiny new bicycle on Christmas morning.
After filling half of my memory card with pictures of glistening red gemstones, we decided we'd had enough adrenaline for the time being.
Jim and Bob had left a little before us and Barry and I decided to hang out a little longer. Barry was interested in another little pond that was adjacent to the one we were at. So, off we went through the thick brush that was loaded with Smilax vines. These annoying plants have the uncanny ability to impale the casual bog trekker with sharp spines that are truly merciless and no respector of persons. Barry, was the evil Smilaxs' first victim, as i heard shrills that reminded me of Michael Jacksons' tour in 92, immediately followed by a barage of various adjectives   and verbs. Immediately recognizing the plants' bizarre traits and noticing the unusual ritualistic dance that Barry was now doing, i promptly named this new variety; Smilax testiculosa !  Hey, it got me too...on a few occasions. Two to be exact!

After arriving back at the vehicles, being victorious in our quest, it was time to go over some more locale logistics and plan our next excellent CP adventure. Lo and Behold! We had finally found the Mighty D. filiformis red and we had basked in it's mucilage-laden glory. With chests out and heads held high, we left their enchanted land and retired our cameras/swords to their cases. As long as i live, i'll never forget the site of these lovely plants with arms stretched towards Heaven, beckoning me to partake of it's shimmering delights. Now, they are truly immortal, frozen in time forever on our memory cards... and most definitely in my heart.

Below are examples of the golden variant of Florida D. filiformis 'red' which I call the "golden chalice" form. The plants were in full sun along with the darker red variants

  Below are comparison photos of D. filiformis var. tracyi from a different site many miles away. There were no D. tracyi present at the D. filiformis 'red' site.

Don't forget to read Chapter Two;  P. primuliflora, The Emerald Water Goddess!