Plants of Doom

Landscape scenes from a pristine Southern California Oak Savanna habitat, hiked to off the Ortega Highway in Southern Orange County. Knowing that such habitat still exists does my conservationists’ heart good. 

Cork Oak, Quercus suber, growing magnificently well in the Elysian Park Arboretum. The bark of this oak was once the exclusive source of bottle plugs/corks. Now, due in large part to over-demand of the real thing, artificial corks have come to be used.  

Un-identified Palm near Chavez Ravine, LA.

Sarracenia x excellens, a naturally occurring American Pitcher Plant hybrid. Plants like this can be found in the southern US swamps and savannas. 

Pinguicula x “Aphrodite”, a hybrid Mexican butterwort. These plants spend half the year as succulents, half as sticky carnivores, and their beautiful flowers are often pollinated by migrating hummingbirds!

Drosophyllum lusitanicum, the Portuguese Sundew or “Pina Babosa”. This sticky carnivorous plant is a voracious predator, and often emits a vague honey-like scent.

Roridula dentata, a resinous carnivorous plant native to South Africa. These plants eventually become medium-to-large shrubs, and have been know to snare small birds!

A tower of massive Opuntia prickly pear cactus growing in Southern California

Drosera finlaysoniana wrapping itself around an insect in preparation for its leaf’s digestive phase. 

The toothy Nepenthes bokorensis x (x trusmadiensis), a hybrid tropical pitcher plant.

Drosophyllum lusitanicum, the “dewy pine” or “Pina Babosa” of Portugal, Spain, and Northern Morocco. This plant is an extremely effective fly-catcher, and its leaves have historically been used as a sort of fly paper in parts of its native range.