Narration: A production of the South Carolina Educational Television Network Jim: Nature Scene is made possible in part by viewer donations to the ETV endowment of South Carolina.

Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

♪♪ Jim: Hello and welcome to this edition of Nature Scene I'm Jim Welch with naturalist Rudy Mancke.

And we're in Horry County in eastern South Carolina, on the edge of The Carolina Bay, a mysterious geographic place and I say mysterious Rudy because so much has been written and so little yet known.

Rudy: Yeah, it's still very mysterious because we know that these elliptical depressions are very common on the coastal plain, mainly in the Carolinas, which gives it the name Carolina Bays.

And the formation, the exact formation of them is still arguable.

But they're very, very special places unique places.

Because on a sandy coastal plane, they're lower, they get wetter, a lot of vegetation builds up there, and it's almost like a boggy area.

And we'll be talking about the plants that live in that wet place.

As opposed to plants that are found on sand rims, which are usually associated with these bays.

People used to believe maybe meteorites crashed into the ground here.

And that's one theory, Jim: Well some still believe.

Rudy: Sure Yeah, we're not really sure what happened.

But once depressions formed water, got in prevailing winds sort of formed ellipses that are kind of in a northwest to southeast orientation, and in the plants moved in.

We're in an open area here, but just behind us, you can see the thick vegetation that is so typical of a Carolina Bay, and we'll talk about some of those plants specifically.

And a few moments but a lot of evergreen species do well, and I suppose the name bay may come from the fact that there are three plants called Bays, Red Bay and sweetbay and loblolly Bay, that really do well in those depressions.

Jim: So that's an accepted theory as to why they're called Bays.

Rudy: And then that sand rim is a totally different habitats.

Look in front of us here.

I mean, the plants that dominate are tall longleaf pines that love Sandy situations, look at the big cones on those trees, and long needles.

So the name longleaf pine certainly does make sense.

But that is the dominant tree species here.

And what happens often in the sandy areas is fire come through and that is really something that does change the world.

Look off in the distance there.

And you can see how fire really kills a lot of the shrubby plants and allows these herbaceous species to come up and look at the ferns in the distance over there.

< And what two different kinds of ferns.> Yeah, the low when they're close to the ground, about a foot off the surface is the bracken fern.

Very widely distributed Fern doing well here.

And then the clumps of fronds that come up are leaves that come up a little higher is cinnamon fern.

Beautiful new green.

Now again, the shrubs the growing part of those shrubs was killed by the fire.

The stem on those ferns is underground.

It's called a rhizome.

Jim: And goes up for many feet.

Rudy: If you've got an underground stem and the fire comes through, you lose your leaves so what you send up new leaves from that protected stem.

Now here's a plant right in front of us it does well in boggy situations and usually associated a lot with Carolina Bay, one of the carnivorous plants.

Pitcher plant is the common name this one is the one called a hooded pitcher plant.

Look those little translucent spots on the backside of that modified leaf.

<You find those on other pitcher plants?> those not really know that's typical of the hooded pitcher plant and look at the way they Top of that pitcher now really does flop down a good bit we'll probably see some other pitcher plant species in a moment.

Jim: Carnivorous in that it's a meat eater?

It takes in insects mainly and other animals that might get trapped sweet smell coming out.

And then that tubular leaf has digestive fluid at the bottom insect falls in and gets digested by the plant giving some trace elements probably that it couldn't get out of the soil to these plants the stem on that is on the ground and the fire came through.

No problem it sends up new leaves and look look at the flowers.

Isn't that interesting the way they tilt down like that and you see petals and sepuls they're very very colorful.

Jim: Is May a good time to see carnivorous plants?

Rudy: Yeah it really is not only the the leaves that help you identify them but also the beautiful flowers one of the carnivorous plants I bet we'll see more.

Look at the yellow out here now a lot of color we saw green a moment ago.

What blossoms brilliant yellow?

Wild Indigo is the common name for that in the Pea family you can see those flowers very clearly there.

And then those new leaves are very interesting.

That's a strange plant it forms a little pea like pod on it fruit pot but look what happens is a plant dies there's last year's plant right next to it see it's it's black very dark and stiff and since we're the color comes from it's used in dried arrangements every now and then but very very sturdy.

Doing well last year's and then the new this year's growth beautiful flowers I'm sure we're going to see more why don't we just head off in this direction.

♪♪ Very sweet smells here.

Isn't this nice?

Jim: And no wonder there are so many flowers blossoming this time of year.

Rudy: And one that dominates here is that little shrubby Azalea, common name for it is dwarf azalea and doesn't get much higher than this.

But typical azalea like flowers and very very fragrant you can imagine insects coming and taking advantage of that nectar.

Jim: No relation to the wild honeysuckle?

Rudy: Sometimes this gets called Wild Honeysuckle by lots of people.

The flowers are kind of honeysuckle looking but it is one of the azaleas really doing well in the sandy situations.

Now we were talking about the fact that longleaf pines dominate here.

Tree wise there's a tree that's tough enough to grow here fairly well one of the Oaks.

Common name usually Black Jack Oak, and not generally a very tall tree.

That's a young one it's gonna get bigger, but able to live well in fairly dry soils.

<Large waxy leaves.> Yeah, and the leafs usually a larger on the small trees trying to get more energy from sunlight so they can grow taller.

There's another plant I look at that little thing hard to see look at the flower coming up and leaves down at the base of the one of the carnivorous plants.

So tiny Sundew was the common name, little dewdrops almost on the ends of those leaves.

And that sticky stuff grabs insects the leaf actually folds up Jim: Sundew is rare, but this other grass looking vegetation it looks quite common.

Rudy: Yeah, look at it all over the place.

In fact, that's not a grass at all that's longleaf pine just getting started that's the grass stage it's called have that long leaf pine.

<That's hard to believe.> Isn't that amazing coming up here is one of the adaptations to the fire that comes through protects the terminal bud.

So it'll continue to grow on up.

Jim: So it will grow out of that a tree?

Rudy: is one other flower out in looks like a road there white see the composite really one of the ones generally known as fleabane.

And that's a species that does very well in the sandy soils growing in the open right along the road.

And we just get on that road.

You follow it and see where it leads.

♪♪ Road like this does give you pretty good access to these plants very diverse without a solid canopy over head.

Jim: Burned over a lot of ferns and what a beautiful day.

Rudy: So many things coming out and look over on the side look at that thing right up against the stump.

Now that's a pretty good place for it to be one of the poisonous snakes.

Common name for that is the copperhead.

Jim: Is it easy to identify are the other snakes marked like this?

Rudy: Not really anything that looks quite like this.

You see those distinct dark cross bands sort of an hourglass shaped marking or dumbbell shaped marking that are very obvious against that lighter background typical of the of the copper head.

And then of course the head itself is coppery brown.

So the common name Copperhead makes sense.

One of the pit vipers now one of the poisonous snakes is very common in the eastern United States.

Look at the cat like pupil in the eye.

And then between the eye and the nostril that other hole there is the pit that is sensitive, you know the temperature changes 1/1000 of a degree Fahrenheit change in temperature, it can pick it up.

And that gives a snake lots of information about potential food and the world around him.

It feeds on mice, small birds, lizards, other snakes, and even eats lots of insects too.

And that was really one of the reasons it's so widespread it feeds on just about any animal is small enough to swallow.

Of course, it has fangs and Venom bites more people than any poisonous snake in the eastern United States.

Kills less than 1% of the people it bites, thank goodness.

Jim: Breathing very calmly, would it?

Would it strike at us if we weren't real close?

Rudy: I really doubt it.

We're too big for it to eat.

So we're potential danger you'd rather not come in contact with us.

I imagine it would just stay right there and allow us to walk right by fairly quiet animal isn't it?

Even though it is a poisonous snake.

But whenever you see a snake like that, and you're not sure what kind it is, it's best to treat it like it's poisonous.

Which means of course, leave it alone.

Jim: You might walk read by unnoticed.

Rudy: That's a beautiful animal.

I saw something else over there.

There's another pitcher plant.

Why don't we see if we can work our way around this way and get a closer look at it okay.

♪♪ See more signs of the fire in here.

Dead leaves on the pines and other things.

Jim: Does it help the some of the plants with the fire?

Rudy: Well, the shrub zone is gone.

So herbaceous plants come up pretty well.

But of course, it kills some of the young trees, there's Red Bay, see the brown leaves.

One of those bays we were talking about, it's been killed back pretty badly.

But once the shade is gone, as we said those ferns come up.

And they're the pitcher plants that I saw from the road, another species now.

<Healthy pitcher plants.> Trumpet pitcher plant is the common name.

For this one.

You see the modified leaves are much taller, and they'll get a little taller than this.

But look at that space, you can look really right down into the throat of that and imagine insects being attracted in, going down.

It's very slippery in there.

Hair's pointing down.

So once you lose your balance, you go down into fluid at the bottom of that modified leaf and get digested.

I don't see any.

<And the pitcher flower grows taller.> Yeah, when it gets a little bit taller.

Getting nutrients from the body of the animal kind of turning the tables on the animals.

I usually think of animals eating plants.

This is a plant that gets rid of animals.

Look at now the clumps of material all around it too.

Dried out a little bit in the sunlight.

But that spagna moss see it all over the place here.

Sure it gives you a feeling that there's water below.

A lot of these Bay situations the water is really right under the surface.

If you dig down a little you can feel the moisture and it's in a sense.

It's kind of a boggy area.

<By July or August.

This would be much drier though.> Probably so but again water underneath that is also called peat moss that spagna moss is referred to often as peat moss.

I'm looking yep, there it is.

Right over there.

See right over there.

There is the venus flytrap there is a carnivorous plant that to me, is so unique to the two Carolinas found nowhere else in the world.

Jim: And that's the one I hear about people used to steal it, in essence, take it home.

Rudy: We're losing a lot in the wild.

<Endangered it?> Found only in North and South Carolina.

And that's one of the very active traps those pitcher plants are very passive.

They just sit and wait for the insect that little thing has triggering hairs.

Those aren't big enough for us to really get to hopefully we'll see one larger in a moment.

We can play with those hairs and see if we can get that leaf to to close up.

Jim: Rudy it's so important to walk with respect because there's so many fragile plants.

Rudy: Yeah, it really is best to spend most of your time on trails just get off every now and then.

There's so much that you really can't see until you slow down I was just looking down in front here with one pitcher plant that we totally overlooked.

<So different.> Yeah, see the way the the picture on that one is basically flat against the ground instead of standing straight up like those others that we've seen.

Purple pitcher plant is one name for that hunters horn is another one.

And with it down against the ground like that, look at that wide opening that just feels with rain water and insects drowned in that a lot of times and are digested by the fluid inside.

You can even see the hairs on that one very clearly pointing in toward the trap.

Jim: Why did they do so much better in these areas than anywhere else?

Rudy: Snuggeled up next to the spagna moss which gives them moisture even in fairly dry weather.

Saw a little dragon over here.

Let me just see if I can scoop that a little bit.

Yeah, one of the looks like one of the saddlebags dragonflies let me see if I can just reach in and get it in hand and we'll take close look at it and for sure, that's the one known as the saddlebags Dragonfly.

Jim: Why is it called the saddlebags dragonfly?

Rudy: Thoes large dark markings on the base of the hind wings when the wings are spread look like saddlebags bouncing off of an old Pony Express rider riding rapidly.

Jim: What's the more scientific common name?

Tramea Carolina.

Carolina after the fact that it was first described here in the Carolinas sort of a reddish orange abdomen there and then those nice wings interesting the nation and then of course the eyes that giant eyes on this animal using those eyes to find mates and also to find food.

Recycling insects in this area here.

Big eyes and then also not only do you have to have eyes to see him look at the legs Jim, two group that are held together kind of like a basket fly through the air the greatest of ease picking off insects and changing them in the dragonfly.

It's our friend spectacular animal.

Jim: Some viewers might argue it's not an animal.

Rudy: It's an animal an insect too, really you can you can classify it in a variety of ways.

But animal no question about it.

Let's just see.

Look at that.

Beautiful.

Yeah, when the wings are spread the saddlebags look is a little clearer.

Look at that.

Isn't that amazing?

Come on, scoot off.

Yeah.

Great fliers.

Jim: I'm looking in the tree I see there.

Yeah, Rudy: That's a head red headed woodpecker looking out of that hole.

Look at that brilliant red.

And when it comes out, look as he moves out of that hole.

You can see not only is the entire head red, but there's dark behind that and then look at all that white, brilliant white.

Really when it flies.

It's a band across the middle of the body.

<That is the red headed woodpecker?> The red headed woodpecker that is using that as a nest hole going back yellow, hidden back inside probably cleaning it out a little bit.

A lot of woodpeckers have a little red on the head.

Red Headed woodpecker has a solid red head and both male and female Oh man that's nice.

Doing very well right here in this longleaf pine forest.

Why don't we head out this way.

See what else we can see and watch out where you put your feet.

Jim: Being careful as we walk.

♪♪ Rudy: This area really does begin to open up usually called a place like this as Savannah grasses dominating here.

A lot of broom sedge coming out in here.

<Often associated with the bay?> Yeah, a little extra moisture underground here.

Look at the treess.

Now here's a strange one clusters, see them out here.

Of an oak and oak that's an oak running oak is the common name and usually it runs along the ground low to the ground, rather than coming up.

Very tall, like that black jack oak that we were looking at.

<Oh, more of Bush more than tree.> Yeah.

And there is another one of the pitcher plants.

Wow, with a burgundy flower.

Yeah, isn't that interesting?

And you see the sepals and the petals again are colorful, a little insect flying around those flowers a little bit.

But you see the little pitchers on that not very large not as large as some we've seen before.

Sweet pitcher plant is one name for it.

Red pitcher plant is another name I suppose referring to the flowers and also to a little bit of red on the on the pitcher's.

Jim: This is another pitcher plant well the carnivorous plants.

Rudy: Sarracenia is the genus name we've seen four species of that same genus doing well here.

Now there's some last year's fruit look at the little vases.

Let's see those little vases there that were once filled with seed.

Jim: Now that's dried out from last year?

Rudy: That's a plant called meadow beauty.

Savannah is a very much like wet meadows and meadow beauty comes in and does well easy to identify even without flowers on.

And I can look at this.

Can't you believe this?

Look at the dragonfly.

Perched on the medow beauty, over there.

Species name on that is semi fasci Ada, not quite banded, but almost banded all the way across those wings.

Jim: Not much different in size from the previous saddlebags.

Rudy: Right.

Yeah, this one's a little more fresh though.

It's still there.

Many wings are still glistening, still getting used to flight.

And one other strange one.

Here's another one of the grasses see with the curled end on it.

twisting around a little bit.

<Very, artistic, too.> Tooth ache grass is the common name for that.

And usually when you see that, you figure Gee, there's a savanna area there because it does very well in these pine savannas.

And last year's fruit.

Jim: Has to be a reason why it's called toothache grass.

Rudy: Well again, it's crushable it is aromatic and deadens the pain of of toothaches.

That's one of the uses for that net amazed so much here.

And right in in front of us here.

Look at the orange milk wort brilliant orange on that group of flowers there right here in in the trail.

So much to see in a place like this and habitats change a little bit.

<Ditches every here and there.> Whoa right in the ditch there look in the water.

Oh my there is a relative of that Copperhead that we saw earlier.

Common Name, Eastern cottonmouth.

Look at the size of the head.

Jim: That behavior is so different from anything I've seen on a snake.

Rudy: The markings resemble the copperhead markings a little bit but they're not quite so obvious on the eastern cottonmouth same genus as the copperhead different species.

<Much more menacing.> Yeah, and really enjoys the water really enjoys the water looking at him now coiling up now he's seen as he's a little bothered by us flattening his body a little bit look the way the mouth opens up.

he did name cotton mouth look at that didn't get to that he's Jim: He's hostile enough looking as it is.

Rudy: Almost.

Well, lots of snakes have white linings in the mouth.

This is the only one that shows you the lining and even when you don't want to see it, fangs not pulled down at all.

It can control whether the fines come down or not.

But obviously a poisonous snake one of those pit vipers look at the tail vibrating down there, splashing in the water a little bit.

And again, that's typical of the cotton mouth and the copperhead vibrating the tail and of course another pit Viper.

Does that rattlesnake rattlesnakes.

It's almost as if he were related to the redness it is a relationship.

They're all pit vipers vibrate their tails when they get bothered.

Magnificent animal that's usually called the low land or water moccasin the copperhead referred to as the high land or a moccasin or the copperhead poisonous snake good to be aware of that.

Jim: Always been told they're an aggressive snake and I would believe that now.

Rudy: Well they stand their ground they don't really come at you they stand their ground.

Why don't we just walk around it here and see what we can see further on.

♪♪ We are back on a little bit of a sandy area now.

At the edge of the bay again Jim, shrub zone here it's really great.

Jim: I said earlier how mysterious these bays are but the plants that surround them are a rather exciting.

Rudy: Yeah, they really are and very diverse and you don't find them everywhere.

But look at the thick vegetation.

So typical of bays.

It's argued about how bays formed but after they got their vegetation moved in and most of the bays now that once had water in them are now solid vegetation.

The pines coming up out there are no longer longleaf pines, those are called Pond pines and they do very well in that situation.

I see another one of the bays here too.

See the sweetbay which is in fact one of the magnolias didn't really look that way at the moment.

But look over there you can see the fruit to the old tells you really Yeah, that's Magnolia, no doubt about it.

And then another shrubby plant that's coming in here is pepper Bush doing very well see last year's fruit on it.

<And that's why do you call it pepper Bush?> pepper corn look of the fruit fruit.

It'll have white flowers later that really are attractive to insects, and so many shrubby species that do well in the bay.

And then right on the edge.

very showy lavender.

Oh my goodness.

What does that look like?

What's that flower look like to you?

Jim: Is it a laurel?

Rudy: Looks like mountain laurel except we're not in the mountains and the flowers are smaller.

This one is called a sheep Laurel or sheep kill.

It is a poisonous plant and it is a relative of mountain laurel the same genus Kalmia.

But a different species and groups of those small flowers beautiful when you get a close look at them like this.

But ringing the edge it looks like of the of the bay.

Strange, very interesting plant some that you would expect here and some that got or throw back in a sense or relatives at least in mountain <Great habitat.> Yeah, so much to see a little movement down here.

Let me see if I can, little toad.

<A little tiny one.> Well here, probably the oak toad.

Let me see.

Let me just reach in and get in.

This is really a very small toad.

And yet this is the adult Jim.

<Fully grown.> Yeah, <Hard to believe.> Pretty easy to identify by the size and that light stripe right down the center of the back with dark markings on both sides.

Jim: You're not hurting him?

Rudy: Not really.

I shouldn't let him dry out too much.

But you see the way he's breathing there with that throat bringing in air through the nostrils and into the Lungs.

Long, we keep him from drying out.

I think we'll be alright.

But this one is typical of savannas and bays in this part of the southeastern United States.

Jim: What's his name again?

Rudy: Oak toad.

Be a good common name for it.

Just putting him right here.

Jim: Eats small insects.

Rudy: Yeah, it seems to find plenty because he does very well in this situation.

♪♪ I recall there's a little depression up here.

are some pretty good size Venus fly traps in it.

<You were going to show me how they worked.> Yeah, let me get down there and see if we can get one of those to close up and see if I can get this stick in position, Jim, I think this will work.

A little triggering here is on the inside.

Look at this, look at it.

Look at that see, closes right up.

Again, if an insect or spider or whatever was in there, after it was caught and trapped by that little trap, then digestive fluid would be produced closes very quickly.

Yeah, pretty rapid.

This is an active trap not passive.

Oops, look at that.

It's not a passive trap like the pitcher plants and see it's hard to look at this hard to get that little stick out.

Jim: Will it stay closed for quite some time?

Rudy: Stay closed, but since there's nothing in there, it'll open up and these leaves can close and open and close and open up to 10 times before they die and then another leaf is produced.

<It's amazing Rudy.> It is kind of strange isn't almost a primitive trap line.

I've heard it called, a lot of carnivorous plants today.

<That's the venus flytrap.> Venus Flytrap and there's another one really over there we haven't talked about yet one called Butterwort.

Look at the leaves at the base that kind of fold up on the edges, waxy leaves it slowly fold over and trapping insects and a really pretty flower on the top.

Jim: Rudy there's so many wonderful things here at Cartwheel Bay.

Rudy: Special plants and animals that like we've seen here deserve special protection you need to protect their homes, their habitats, and thank goodness people do that around the United States.

In this case, specifically the Nature Conservancy at Cartwheel Bay.

Jim: So many things to see here.

Come see it for yourself.

It's in eastern South Carolina in Horry County.

Thanks for being with us and join us again on the next Nature Scene.

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Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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