By Ed Simmons, Jr.
cpreporter@lcs.net
Visiting Caroline next week to observe the work of the Meadowview Biological Research Station, British naturalist and author Stewart McPherson will give a free lecture on "spectacular pitcher plants from across the world" at the University of Mary Washington on Saturday, May 1. The event will be held in Room 100 of the Jepson Science Center.
The author of four books, McPherson will be donating from his book sales to benefit Meadowview which preserves Virginia pitcher plants.
In 2007 McPherson led a team of botanists up a remote Philippine mountain to discover an immense pitcher plant with banana-shaped pouches that can trap and dissolve rats and four-inch spiders with its digestive enzymes.
McPherson will be staying at Meadowview, the guest of director Phil Sheridan. The research station, which includes Caroline's first pitcher plant preserve, is located four miles north of Bowling Green on Route 2.