A guide through the land of flesh-eating plants
- John Lorson: The Rail Trail Naturalist
- May 12, 2025
- 31
My day job provided some great fun during the past week as I got to spend one day teaching a group of fifth-graders about Ohio’s mammals of the past and present. That lesson, or actually seven repetitions of the same lesson, took place as part of a “day on the farm” at a local dairy operation. One teacher remarked that this was the first time in 13 years their school had taken students on a field trip. The comment left me astounded.
My second field day of the week took me to the local “land of the flesh-eating plants,” Brown’s Lake Bog Preserve in Southwestern Wayne County. There, my work gang and I met up with three busloads (one at a time, thankfully) of eighth-graders to walk them through one of the most unique landscapes in the area.
The bog surrounds a small “kettle hole lake,” which was formed when a massive chunk of ice was left behind by a retreating glacier. Such lakes are rare in Ohio, as many have been drained off or mined out for deep deposits of peat formed by thousands of years of sphagnum growth, death and decomposition in the acidic environment. That environment provides the perfect habitat for some truly fantastical plant species with some very interesting nutritional habits.
One will easily encounter the burgundy and green pitcher plant while venturing on the boardwalk across the bog to the edge of the lake. Shaped as its name implies, the pitcher plant offers a tasty meal of nectar for insects and arthropods that are up for a dare. In most cases that meal will be the bug’s last as they find it impossible to exit the cylinder and fall into the digestive juices at the bottom.
An equal treasure along the boardwalk will require a closer examination. The diminutive round-leaved sundew is among the most beautiful and delicate plants anywhere. Glandular hairs radiate from its leaves, each bearing a tiny droplet of a clear, sticky secretion that acts to trap any insect that dares the call of its nectar. Both the sundew and pitcher plant harvest nutrients from their deceased prey.
Circling back for a moment to the importance of using outings to augment a child’s education, I’m all for a robust classroom experience, and I know a whole lot of learning can take place inside of the brick and mortar, but when I think back to my own formative educational experiences, getting out into the world to experience things I would have never had the chance to see otherwise were the most memorable and impactful lessons of all.
My colleagues and I at Wayne Soil & Water Conservation District, along with our contemporaries in other counties, typically jump at the chance to become a part of these days afield. If you are a teacher, administrator or even a parent of a student, please do what you can to get your schoolkids out into the world every now and then — and give us a call to help out. The lessons will last a lifetime.
If you have comments on this column or questions about the natural world, write The Rail Trail Naturalist, P.O. Box 170, Fredericksburg, OH 44627, or email jlorson@alonovus.com. You also can follow along on Instagram @railtrailnaturalist.