Plants and Animals at the
	Smith Pond Bog
	Sanctuary
	Return to the Smith Pond Bog Sanctuary

Plants That Inhabit Bogs
The bog's floating mat, which gives it its "quaking" feeling, consists basically of spongy Sphagnum Moss. Together with the other acid-tolerant plants it supports, the Sphagnum Moss will continue to grow, eventually covering the open pond and filling it with peat.

Typical non-woody plants of the floating mat, besides Sphagnum Moss and sedges, are Water Arum, Water Willow, Horned Bladderwort, two very attractive orchids, Grass Pink and Rose Pogonia, and the two well known insectivorous plants, Sundew and Pitcher Plant.

Around June the conspicuous pink flowers of the Pitcher Plant bloom at Smith Pond Bog. Their remarkable hollow leaves with their downward pointed hairs trap and digest insects. Another insectivorous plant usually found in bogs but scarce here is the tiny Sundew, with its small, white flowers and sticky, "hairy," club-like leaves for catching insects.

By far the most common shrubs present in bogs are Leatherleaf or Cassandra, Sweet Gale, and Labrador Tea. Cranberries, Bog Rosemary, Pale and Sheep Laurel and Rhodora are other very typical bog shrubs.

Trees most typical of bogs are the Black Spruce and Tamarack. Pitch Pine, White Pine, and even Red Pine are also commonly found.

Animals Inhabiting Bogs
Common to bogs in general are the Bog Copper, a butterfly that lives mainly in bogs, dragonflies and waterstriders found hunting for their meals over the pond, and the Four-toed Salamander and Spotted Turtle. Other salamanders, frogs, Snapping and Painted Turtles and non-poisonous water snakes are at also at home in a bog, as well as mice, shrews, moles, and the Southern Bog Lemming. Larger animals also visit bogs, such as River Otter, Mink, Raccoon, Snowshoe Hare, Muskrat, as well as Beaver.