Posted on 12/08/2009 1:55:30 PM PST by Ben Mugged
Petunias and potatoes may actually be carnivorous plants, scientists now suggest.
Indeed, carnivorous behavior may be far more widespread in plants than commonly thought - if we take a closer look, botanists said.
At least six different kinds of killer plants have been recognized since the time of Darwin, such as Venus flytraps, which snares insects between its jaw-like leaves, and pitcher plants, which capture victims in slippery pits. These plants apparently target animals to supplement their growth in harsh, nutrient-poor habitats.
Many other plants, some quite common, have also been suggested as potential carnivores over the years that have failed to gain wide acceptance as such thus far. Petunias and potatoes, for instance, have sticky hairs that trap insects, and several species of campion flowers have the common name catchfly for the same reason.
"We may be surrounded by many more murderous plants than we think," said botanist Mark Chase, Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in England.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Even vegitables are not vegitarians.
Was frying potatoes....All of a sudden...An eye caught my eye and...
*ping*
Is there any such thing as a Pelosi flytrap?
C’mon. Four posts and no one put up the Movie Poster from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?
Have some more fried Trifid?
I swear those plants were following me...
Feed me!
Every time I get near them they clam up and don't utter a word.
Here's a photo of one attacking a bumblebee.
"Come a little closer, and I'll EAT YOU ALIVE!"
Okay hennie pennie, I admit it, you’ve beaten me tonight for sheer variety. :’)
BTW, petunias and potatoes are relatives. :’) It’s a big family (not in the scientific classification sense of the term “family”). In no particular order, those two, plus tobacco, nicotiana, jerusalem cherry, the European Love Apple, husk tomatoes, tomatillos, chinese lanterns, all peppers (sweet and hot), tomatos, eggplants, solanum nigrum (”deadly nightshade”), datura, oleander, poinsettias...
oleander
You just had to know that when Jo-ann’s new husband
picked oleander from beside the kitchen door for her
wedding bouquet that their marriage was going right
down the tube. Soap opera memories.
That’ll be the day I go back to Annandale.
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