Mankind has always been fascinated with meat-eating plants. From Audrey II to the famous Venus flytrap, if it’s a plant that eats meat, people are going to take notice. However, these types of plants might be more common than we realize. It’s not some beastly science fiction monstrosity either, it’s a plant that grows in pots and gardens throughout the world. That’s right, the humble petunia is a killer plant. That’s according to experts at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and the Natural History Museum, who recently published their findings in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
Professor Mark Chase puts it thusly: “Although a man-eating tree is fictional, many commonly grown plants may turn out to be cryptic carnivores, at least by absorbing through their roots the breakdown products of the animals that they ensnare. We may be surrounded by many more murderous plants than we think.”
Since petunias have little fine hairs that ensnare insects, that means they’re at least slightly carnivorous. You might be growing a man-eating plant right now! Well, probably not right now, since it’s winter here in North America, but my point remains.
Tags: killer petunias, meat-eating petunias, killer flowers, carnivorous plants, Royal Botanical Gardens, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, hungry plants, Professor Mark Chase
