A MAN-EATING PLANT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3097, 21 May 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MAN-EATING PLANT.

)■ h: Rr. has been discovered iu Nicaragua ps a flesh-eating, or rather man-eating n; plant, which is called by the natives tr '■the devil's snare." In form it is a T I.ind f.f vegetable octopes, or devilfish, ti and it is able t" dtaw blood of any living h. (hin" which come* within i';> cuitcues. tl I,; appear:', the I Lctieiiii nral Times sayn, that a Mr a intinalHt, ha.-, j, lately returned from Central America, . r where he spent Uvo yi ars in the study of j, •he p! n:l a and an'iiri sof clioso i"L'ioi)J, n j„ niie of file .-WUIMIS weicil Mirrmind v rhe great Nicaragua i..ake. be discovered this Miignlal' g! : owth. He Vfts eng iyed \ in bnn'uig for botanical and eiitor.-.o logical s iceiiii.'hs, when he heard his dug < c ,y out, as if in agony, from a di-itaciee. i Running to the spot from whence the . animal's cries eanio, Mr Dunstao found , him Uivelop"d in a perfect network of ' what seemed to ho a line, rope-like tis'nr ■ of roots and libres. The plant or vine seemed composed entirely of bare interiHcins stems, resembling, more thin anything else, the branches of the weeping willow denuded of its foliage, but of a'dark, nearly black hue, and covered with a thick, viscid, gum thut exuded from the pores. Drawing his knife, Mr Dunstan attempted to cut the poor beast free ; but it was with the very greatest difficulty that he managed to sever the fleshy muscular fibres of the plant. When the dog was extricated from Ihe coils of the plant, Mr Dunstan saw to his horror and amazement that the dog's body was blood-stained, while the skin appeared to • have been actually sucked or pucketed in spots, and the animal staggered as if from exhaustion. In cutting vine, the twigs curled like living, sinuous ; fingers ahout Mr Dunstan's hand, and it required no slight force to free, the member from its clinging grasp, which left the flesh red and blistered. The gum exuding from the vine wa3 of a greyish-dark . tinge, remarkably adhesive and of a disagreeable odour, powerful and nauseating r to inhale. The natives showed the great , est horror of the plant, and recounted to j. the naturalist many stories of its deatht dealing powers. Mr Dunstan said he 3 was able to discover very little about the I nature of t.he plant, owing f.o the difficulty of handling it, for its grasp can only bo shaken off with the loss of skin, aad even of flesh. As near as lie could t. ascertain, however, its power of suction , is contained in a number of infinitesimal mouths or little suckers, which,_ ordinarily closed, open for the reception of ' food. If the substance is animal the * blood is drawn off and the carcase or 0 refuse then dropped. A lump of raw meat being thrown in, in the short space y of five minutes the blood will be thoroughly drunk off and the mass thrown ,f aside. Its voracity is almost beyond e belief. _____