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By Linda | April 12, 2008

Scientific question #326,572 from my 10-year-old:

Is there really such a thing as a man-eating plant?

No.

There are however over 640 plant species that attract, capture, kill, and digest animals and protozoans. These are known as carnivorous plants. In order to be classified as carnivorous, the plant must have the ability to do the following things:

Prey must find its way to the trap, and is usually encouraged to do so by attractants fabricated by the plant.
Prey must be captured by the plant.
The prey must die while in the clutches of the plant.
The prey must be digested.
The nutrients from the prey must be assimilated by the plant.

The largest carnivorous plants are in the genus Nepenthes. These large vines can grow up to tens of yards long. Plants in this genus also have traps that have evolved to capture some of the largest prey, including creatures as large as frogs. Very rarely, captures of birds or rodents have been reported, but these cases probably involved sick animals and certainly do not represent the norm.

One of the most fascinating carnivorous plant is probably the familiar Venus flytrap, which has leaf lobes containing hair-like sensors that once triggered, quickly capture prey with terrifying efficiency.

The fastest-acting trap belongs to the underwater plants in the genus Utricularia, which suck prey into their bladders in times as short as 1/30 of a second.

The plant that probably inspired the myth of the man-eating plant is likely Amorphophallus titanum, otherwise known as the “corpse flower.” Amorphophallus titanum, which is said to be the biggest, smelliest flower in the world, looks like something that could eat a human being. When it blooms it can reach a height of over nine feet and smells like a mixture of rotting flesh and excrement. The pungent odor attracts bees which are trapped in the flower until they are covered with pollen. Then they are released to fertilize other plants.