Tucked into bogs, you’ll find one of Minnesota’s most unusual — and carnivorous — plants, which is easiest to spot this time of year when reddish-purple flowers tower above their unusual leaves.
Purple pitcher plants feature veiny vaselike leaves that push through from surrounding mosses and trap water, which drowns insects. The plants, which are 8 inches to 2 feet tall (when blooming), also have an odor to lure insects.
Downward hairy bristles prevent insects from exiting, much like spike strips at car rental places. The plants slowly dissolve insects, providing essential nutrients in a landscape that lacks nourishing soil and is often acidic.
They’re not the only bog plants that resort to eating insects.
Sundew plants, which may be only a few inches to 10 inches tall, feature tiny round leaves edged with red hairs. They exude a sticky substance that acts like flypaper, luring and trapping mosquitoes and other insects until the plant can close leaves around them. It can take a few weeks to digest their dinner with acids or enzymes.
In addition to carnivorous survival skills, these plants have had historic medicinal value. Pitcher plants were used to treat smallpox, while sundew plants helped with coughs, asthma and breathing problems.
The best bet for seeing these plants for the first time is visiting a bog walk with interpretive signs or naturalists to point them out. The University of Minnesota Arboretum in Chaska and Minneapolis’ Eloise Butler Wildflower Sanctuary both have bog walks.
Big Bog State Recreational Area in Waskish, Minn., north of Bemidji encompasses the 500-square-mile Red Lake Peatlands, the biggest bog in the lower 48 states. A milelong bog walkway takes people into this unique ecosystem. Additional bog walks can be found at Lake Bemidji Lake State Park, Sax-Zim Bog at Meadowlands west of Duluth, and Orr Bog Walk near Pelican Lake.
