VIRGINIA - the Editor's Choice
A close-up of Virginia's endangered yellow pitcher plant. |
Rare Plants Flourish on Highway Rights-Of-Way
By Scott T. Nye, Environmental Specialist I
Sulfur yellow blooms in profusion along a Virginia interstate mark the third year of a successful Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) rare plant reintroduction program. These flowers are the rare native yellow pitcher plant (Sarracenia flava L.) This plant is listed by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's Division of Natural Heritage as extremely rare and imperiled in the State since less than 100 plants are known to occur in the wild.
Through a cooperative effort with Meadowview Biological research Station of Woodford, Virginia almost 500 native, seed-raised yellow pitcher plants have been established on VDOT wetlands in Prince George County. This stunning flower reaches heights between sixteen and twenty inches, with the flowers ranging from two to four inches in diameter. Known as a carnivorous plant, yellow pitcher plants capture and digest insects to make up for the low nutrient levels in their habitat. Insects are lured into the hollow tubes by honey-like nectar and sweet perfume. Some insects lose their footing on the slippery, waxy surface of the pitcher and fall into a pool of liquid laced with a paralyzing narcotic. This narcotic, coniine, is the principal poison in the potion used to kill the famous Greek philosopher Socrates! Insects cannot escape due to the downward-pointing hairs and are digested by both bacteria and plant enzymes.
The yellow pitcher plant has become rare due to drainage of wetlands, fire suppression, and urban development. Fortunately, carefully selected areas on VDOT right-of-way provide the right environmental conditions for the yellow pitcher plant to grow and serve as rare plant conservation habitat.
The pitcher plant is reintroduced after construction of I-295. |
The success of this program does not end with the yellow pitcher plant. A host of other rare native plants are incorporated in the plantings, which reflect the natural plant associates found in pitcher plant bogs. Species such as white-fringed orchid, bug buttons, pink sundew, short-leaved sneezeweed, and cotton grass have also been planted. On the uplands, the very rare longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) has been planted and survival has exceeded 80%. Longleaf pine once occurred throughout southeastern Virginia but was extensively harvested for naval stores and lumber to the point that only 4432 longleaf pine trees remained in the wild in a 1998 census. Efforts on VDOT rights-of-way are now constantly increasing the number of native longleaf pine trees in the State and represent an 11% increase in population size.
Additional plantings are on the increase throughout the Richmond District in an effort to promote diversity. The motoring public is shown the native flora that makes Virginia so unique. Being good stewards of the Commonwealth's property, VDOT is striving to make a difference both aesthetically and ecologically on the Commonwealth's rights-of-way.
In closing, I would like to extend a very warm thank you to Johnnie Wallin for his excellent photograph of the pitcher plants in bloom. Johnnie's love for natives is truly an inspiration. I would especially like to thank Phil Sheridan, Director of Meadowview Biological Research Station, and his volunteers for their hard work and dedication in these projects. Without them, we would not have such wonderful diversity along our roadsides. |
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