FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Last year I took a trip to the northern portion of Michigan and the southern portion of Upper Peninsula. On the trip I encountered various carnivorous plants and orchids.


Emmet County (Day 1):

The first site was quite unique compared to similar sites I have been to. All of these plants survived in a narrow beach swale only a couple yards to a couple feet from the shores of Lake Michigan. In comparison, swales I have been to in the past were several hundreds of feet away from the shores of Lake Michigan and sheltered by tall sand dunes.




Small colonies of Utricularia cornuta were growing terrestrially a couple yards behind the swale were the sand was moist. None of these colonies were growing as affixed aquatics as I had seen in the past.



Utricularia intermedia was extremely common at this location.











The further I walked, the deeper the water became, and I began to see more Utricularia macrorhiza.






A strange mutant flower



Painted turtle



In some of the drier spots I found a couple orchids.

Liparis loeselii
Unfortunately it was too late in the season to see this one in bloom.



Either Platanthera aquilonis or Platanthera huronensis



Mackinac County (Day 2):

There were many swales similar to the one I had visited the other day but most of them were very small with no carnivorous plants or orchids. I was able to find what I believed to be some Utricularia gibba in a small pool that was actually connected to the Lake which was pretty interesting. As I traveled around, I did see some Cypripedium but all the flowers were cut unfortunately.


Epipactis helleborine was very common along the forest trails.



In a marshy area just hidden behind some trees I was greeted by a colony of Spiranthes romanzoffiana just beginning to bloom!



Emmet County (Day 3):

By this time I was a little frustrated because I was hoping to find some Drosera or Pinguicula vulgaris and it was just starting to drizzle outside. Upon parking I could see some Epipactis helleborine sheltered under the trees. The shores were just a short distance away and as I approached I finally found what I was looking for: Pinguicula vulgaris! A large colony was situated on the side of a large pool and spilled over onto the trail heading toward the beach. There were also several colonies on the shores of Lake Michigan living amongst the rocks.










Also among the Pinguicula vulgaris were some impressive clusters of Spiranthes cernua

That must be an incredible experience to see CP's growing in their natural habitat. I have been doing a little research in my area and hopefully with camera in hand I to will find some of these most interesting plants...Thanks for sharing

Seen this on TF. Thanks for sharing, those are some beautiful pictures!

I wasn't aware P. vulgaris could be found in Michigan! I'd love to see them in the wild. I heard Mackinac county also has a nice population of colorful Cepaea nemoralis snails.

Thank you all

hollyhock wrote:That must be an incredible experience to see CP's growing in their natural habitat. I have been doing a little research in my area and hopefully with camera in hand I to will find some of these most interesting plants...Thanks for sharing

I will say, it's quite enjoyable. I've always had an affinity towards exploring different forests and wetlands. It's funny, sometimes you can come across some CPs without even looking. For example, I stumbled across some U. gibba at city park not too far away. Good luck on your search! I hope to hear of your findings in the future.

SundewWolf wrote:I wasn't aware P. vulgaris could be found in Michigan! I'd love to see them in the wild. I heard Mackinac county also has a nice population of colorful Cepaea nemoralis snails.

It seems that P. vulgaris can only be found in northern Michigan and UP. Probably the thing that interests me the most is how close they were to Lake Michigan. That was something I did not expect.

And most of us freak out if our plants get cold. Northern Michigan gets very cold, and yet here is a species of pinguicula that survives and thrives even after probably being frozen solid for at least 3 months out of the year.

The Platanthera species you posted appears to be P. aquilonis, the north wind bog orchid, due to the color and shape of the labellum. Must have been fun finding all those carnivorous plants and orchid species.