Darlington Wayside Oregon

Journey to a Land of Water Wind and Fire

Part B: The Oregon Coast II a

A Little Wayside of Horrors

We started off our second day on the coast by retracing our steps north to see the Darlington Wayside. It had been recommended by several of the books as an interesting botanical exhibit. It is home to the rare "Darlingtonia Californila" plant, a Cobra-shaped plant of the bogs that exists by trapping insects and dissolving them for its food.



The Wayside is just east of US 101. It is very compact with a small parking lot and a boardwalk that goes into the woods only a few hundred yards. At that point it turns left and you continue along the boardwalk with a whole mass of the Darlingtonia Californila plants right by your side.


As we stopped to look at the mass of plants (and of course snap a few pictures), I noticed that there were insects, mostly flys, continually landing on the side petals and marching right up to the opening in the "Cobra Mouth." I felt like saying "Stop you fool, you are marching toward your death!" But I knew it would do no good. They were obviously drawn by some mystical power (I believe scientists would say "Sweet Smelling Nectar" by I prefer to stick with the Mystical explanation, I was a Liberal Arts graduate).


Once the insects entered the plant, they never came back, they were, so it has been said, confused by all the light coming in through the plant's walls. It was all so quick and matter of fact. There was no drama, no visible death convulsions. Just alight, walk in, and you have come in for your last meal. The insects, by and large, did not even hover for a second or two before alighting (as a bee or a butterfly does when starting to alight on a source of nectar). To add a new twist to an old song: "Walk right in, set right down, . . ." but daddy I don't think your hair will hang down or the good times roll.


All together, a fascinating, albeit somewhat philosophically challenging stop for both of us.