Insectivorous plants in Cedarburg Bog

Abstract

Bogs, with their poorly drained organic soils, high water tables, low mineral content and cool sluggish water, offer unique habitats for a variety of unusual plants of which the insectivorous ones are especially interesting. These plants have one feature that separates them from others-their leaves are capable of attracting, holding and partially digesting insects. Because bogs are difficult to traverse during the warmer months of the year, and the mosquitoes are numerous, many persons have never observed these plants in their native habitats and few professional botanists have studied the nature of their physiological adaptations to this environment. A series of articles about these "carnivorous plants" by Plummer (1966) and West (1965), which appeared in the publication Carolina Tips, 'prompted this writer to investigate the species which occur in Cedarburg Bog. This report is based on this survey, and, most of the representatives cited here are filed as specimens in The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Herbarium.