Connecticut

Michael.Chamberland (23274MJC@MSU.EDU)
Thu, 01 Dec 94 13:13 EST

Brian, I lived in the Coventry/Storrs area of Connecticut six years ago.
As for CP, expect to find Drosera rotundifolia (common), Sarracenia
purpurea (numerous, but very localized), and several spp. of aquatic
Utrics. I think D. filiformis and possibly a Pinguicula may occur or
have occured in the state... but I never saw any. They would probably
be very localized and would almost certainly have been covered by a
shopping mall by now anyway. (I also saw a herbarium sheet of Sarracenia
flava from CT, but as I recall the sheet said that the plant was
suspected to have been planted.)

D. rotundifolia is very common. Interestingly, I rarely found it growing
on sphagnum. Usually it can be found on disturbed sites, such as bulldozed
areas where sandy, poor soil has become exposed.

Sarracenia purpurea I only found once. If I recall correctly it was on
Ruby Road in Willington CT. (In a bog across the street from a church).
This was probably the only true quaking bog I stumbled on in CT. Don't look
for S. purpurea in marshes (places with cattails).

Utricularia can be found in many ponds.

At this time of year the Drosera and Utricularia will be dormant or dead,
and are invisible.

I checked herbarium sheets to locate CP sites. However, I was not very
successful with this. Succession claims the habitats of many CT CP in
a short time. Bogs fill in with forest trees. Disturbed/plowed
sites with Drosera are very short-lived, turning to fields, and then to
forest. And of course, many sites are consumed by housing or business
development. In a natural environment, fire would reclear spots of forest,
and beavers would dam up streams and create ponds that would become new bogs.

Michael