The newly discovered giant pitcher
(Nepenthes attenboroughii)
Posted on 08/12/2009 5:56:20 PM PDT by Shermy
A new species of giant carnivorous plant has been discovered in the highlands of the central Philippines.
The pitcher plant is among the largest of all pitchers and is so big that it can catch rats as well as insects in its leafy trap.
During the same expedition, botanists also came across strange pink ferns and blue mushrooms they could not identify.
The botanists have named the pitcher plant after British natural history broadcaster David Attenborough.
They published details of the discovery in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society earlier this year.
Word that this new species of pitcher plant existed initially came from two Christian missionaries who in 2000 attempted to scale Mount Victoria, a rarely visited peak in central Palawan in the Philippines.
With little preparation, the missionaries attempted to climb the mountain but became lost for 13 days before being rescued from the slopes.
On their return, they described seeing a large carnivorous pitcher plant.
That pricked the interest of natural history explorer Stewart McPherson of Red Fern Natural History Productions based in Poole, Dorset, UK and independent botanist Alastair Robinson, formerly of the University of Cambridge, UK and Volker Heinrich, of Bukidnon Province, the Philippines.
...
So in 2007, they set off on a two-month expedition to the Philippines, which included an attempt at scaling Mount Victoria to find this exotic new plant.
Accompanied by three guides, the team hiked through lowland forest, finding large stands of a pitcher plant known to science called Nepenthes philippinensis, as well as strange pink ferns and blue mushrooms which they could not identify.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
These must be the “green shoots” Our Dear Leader is speaking of. They could be planted at every hospice to cut down on burial expenses.
When I read this I thought the title meant “plant” as in factory, thinking to myself, wow, how can I get this job? = D
The locals are probably surprised that that weed and poisonous mushroom are getting so much attention. I mean, they’ve been around for as long as everybody there can remember.
(Discovery... Sure...)
Hmmm. Blue shrooms, where have I seen that before?? mmmmm.
Maybe Michelle will accidently plant one in her White House toxic waste garden.
Fantasy: Several dozen of those extraordinary pitcher plants were placed in the halls of Congress.
you beat me to it. LOL!
Meateating plants will be sent to hospitalized senior citizens after ObamaCare.
Where can one buy one of these???????????
“...botanists also came across strange pink ferns and blue mushrooms”
OMG, they must have been in the bedroom I had when I was about 10.
genus:species = Obameranus suckurbloodis
I want to know the ethics of these plants being eaten by vegetarians.
Man, you think too much.
Those mushrooms look pretty potent.
Blue is a good color for shooms.
I like them when they turn blue.
I really do, I am sorry if I think too much, but I really want to know the ethics of these plants being eaten by vegetarians.
ROFLOL good one
Thanks! I should have been in the taxonomy field
“I like the enchiladas, and the teriyaki too. I even like the chicken if the sauce is not too blue.”
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