The Carnivorous Plant FAQ Field Trip Report -

Mountains of Madness in 2003


The Trip:
Fourth of July was approaching, and Beth and I were looking for something more fun than the usual hang-out-and-watch-fireworks. Should we go cow-tipping? Too unlikely. Perhaps start an international drug cartel? Too easy. Use our paranormal skills to capture ghosts? Done that. Instead, we decided to go camping in Lassen National Park (and thereabouts) for a few days.

Lassen is my favorite national park in California. Yes, it even beats out Yosemite. It is so neat because it is geothermally and volcanically active. It has hot springs, bubbling lakes, sulphur vents, boiling mud ponds, recent lava flows, cinder cones, and all sorts of other interesting features. It is crazy! Mountains of Madness! Lassen also has all the usual alpine splendors you get with uber-tall mountains, such as clear lakes, snow fields, great birds, bears, towering conifers, and other neat plants.

Lassen is also a hot spot for carnivorous plants. It contains two species of sundews, a hybrid between them, and four species of native Utricularia. In this field trip, I describe the first two days of our trip, which were spent in a particularly carnivorous-plant-rich area.

One comment I would like particularly to make is on the strange Drosera anglica that occurs in California. This plant has tremendously long, narrow leaves. They are so narrow that some specimens almost mimic Drosera capensis! Don't believe me? Read on...

Start the photo-essay!

 
 

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Revised: October 2007
©Barry Rice, 2005