Man-eating plant
A man-eating tree can refer to any of various legendary carnivorous plants that are large enough to kill and consume a person or other large animal. No such plant is known to exist, but many tantalising, unconfirmed reports, describing several different types, have been documented"[1] . Presently, however, the carnivorous plant with the largest traps is probably Nepenthes rajah, which produces pitchers up to 35 cm (14 inches) in height and will sometimes consume small mammals.[2]
Origins
One account of a man-eating tree appeared in the South Australian Register in 1881. Traveler Carle Liche recounted watching in horror as members of the Mkodo tribe of Madagascar offered a woman in sacrifice to the dreaded tree:
"The slender delicate palpi, with the fury of starved serpents, quivered a moment over her head, then as if instinct with demoniac intelligence fastened upon her in sudden coils round and round her neck and arms; then while her awful screams and yet more awful laughter rose wildly to be instantly strangled down again into a gurgling moan, the tendrils one after another, like great green serpents, with brutal energy and infernal rapidity, rose, retracted themselves, and wrapped her about in fold after fold, ever tightening with cruel swiftness and savage tenacity of anacondas fastening upon their prey."[3]
The Madagascar man-eating tree was given further publicity by the 1924 book by former Governor of Michigan Chase Osborn, Madagascar, Land of the Man-eating Tree.[4] Osborn claimed that both the tribes and missionaries on Madagascar knew about the hideous tree, and also repeated the above Liche account.
In his 1955 book, Salamanders and other Wonders,[5] science author Willy Ley determined that the "Mkodo tribe", Carle Liche, and the Madagascar man-eating tree itself all appeared to be fabrications.
Similar tales have reported such trees in Central America, South America, Mexico and elsewhere.
The January 12, 1957 episode of Science Fiction Theatre, "The Killer Tree", featured a similar tree.[6]
See also
References
- ^
Shuker, Karl (2003). "The Beasts That Hide From Man". Paraview. ISBN 1-931044-64-3.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Phillipps, A. 1988. A Second Record of Rats as Prey in Nepenthes rajah. Carnivorous Plant Newsletter 17(2): 55.
- ^ Tyson, Peter. "A Forest Full of Frights, part 2". The Wilds of Madagascar. Nova Online.
- ^ Osborn, Chase Salmon (1925). Madagascar, Land of the Man-eating Tree.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Ley, Willy (1955). Salamanders and other Wonders. Viking Press.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ "Science Fiction Theatre; "Killer Tree" Episode Summary". TV.com.
Other sources
- Michell, John and Rickard, Bob (2000). The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena. Rough Guides. ISBN 1-85828-589-5.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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