By Michael Futch
Staff writer
WHITEVILLE -- The creepy, subterranean Venus' flytrap has blossomed into a rock star at Southeastern Community College.
WHITEVILLE -- The creepy, subterranean Venus' flytrap has blossomed into a rock star at Southeastern Community College.
Near the heart of where the carnivorous plant once thrived, students are cultivating these wonders of nature in campus laboratories.
The propagation program creates tens of thousands of cloned Venus' flytraps using tissue cultures.
The propagation program creates tens of thousands of cloned Venus' flytraps using tissue cultures.
"It's our signature plant - the Venus' flytrap," said Becky Westbrooks, the lead faculty member of the college's natural resource area. "It will always be one of my rock stars."
The Venus' flytrap grows naturally only in an eight-county region of the coastal plain, within 70 to 90 miles of Wilmington. It is found nowhere else in the world.
The Venus' flytrap grows naturally only in an eight-county region of the coastal plain, within 70 to 90 miles of Wilmington. It is found nowhere else in the world.
The plants love high humidity and thrive in the nutrient-poor soil of this unique ecosystem.
Though not an endangered species, the plants are listed as ones of "special concern."
Though not an endangered species, the plants are listed as ones of "special concern."
"It's rare, but it's not endangered. It's a step down from endangered," said Laura Gadd, a botanist with the N.C. Plant Conservation program.
Gadd cites three main reasons for the decline of Venus' flytraps in the wild: fire suppression, coastal development and poaching. Development wipes out the plant's natural habitats.
Poaching occurs on protected lands, including the Green Swamp Preserve and the Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve.
Westbrooks, who is 57, is keen on thwarting the poachers.
"If we could mass-propagate the plant and maybe flood the market, maybe we could put the poachers out of business," she said.
Students in the college's environmental science technology and biotechnology programs clone flytraps using micropropagating - a plant tissue culturing technique that uses microscopic cuttings. The process has shown to eliminate many diseases caused by viruses, bacteria and fungi.
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