Are there really man-eating trees exist???

As a kid, I used to listen to stories about horrible man-eating trees in the jungles of Africa. Like banyan trees, they have large tail-like stems that entangle humans in their food! Many like me must have heard the story of the man-eating tree as a child. Do you want to know if there are any such trees in the world like mine? I turned to Google to find out the answer to this question. Then? Read on to find out! Let us first know where the idea of ​​the man-eating tree first came from.

"The Madagascar Tree"

In 1874, a man named Edmund Spencer wrote a fabricated article for the New York World. There he mentions a letter he received from a German explorer named Carl Lynch. In the letter, Carl describes a man-eating tree he saw in Madagascar, Africa. This story was later published in some more magazines. After the publication of Chase Osborne's book 'Madagascar, Land of the Man-eating Tree', this man-eating tree became more popular. But all this was a fabricated story. No credible basis has been found for these stories.

"The Nubian Tree"

Phil Robinson wrote a book in 181, Under the Punakha. He wrote the book based on the story of one of his relatives traveling the world. According to the book, the author's relatives found a man-eating tree in a place called Nubia on the banks of the Nile River. The book gives a detailed description of what the tree looks like, how it eats a companion of the author's relatives, and how the author's relatives fight the tree and come back alive. Needless to say, this story also has no real basis.

"The Vampire Vine"

William Thomas Stead, the editor of the British journal Review of Review, wrote a short article in his journal, The Vampire Vine, in 1891. In the article, he quoted Lucifer magazine as saying that a tree called "The Devil's Snare" had been found in Nicaragua. When he came in contact with a living creature, the plant sucked his blood and killed him. An investigation report later said that no such story had been published in Lucifer magazine. So, ‘The Vampire Vine’ printed in Review of Review is completely fictional and fabricated.

Carnivorous plants

There is no such thing as a man-eating tree in the world. However, there are carnivorous plants that cannot breathe the nitrogen needed for their growth due to their hostile environment. To meet the body's need for nitrogen, plants prey on a variety of insects and even small rats. Carnivorous plants trap these animals in various ways. When animals die in traps, the plants survive by collecting minerals from their bodies. Let's get acquainted with some of the carnivorous plants:-

Nepenthes

Nepenthes is a type of "pitcher plant". This species is found in Southeast Asia and Australia. The method by which this plant hunt is called a 'pitfall trap'. The leaves of this plant look like ordinary leaves at the time of growth, but when they start to grow, the leaves form a coil and take the shape of a pitcher. Its entrance is covered with leaf tips in such a way that it acts as a lid.

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These pitcher-shaped leaves contain a kind of digestive juice. This plant attracts insects with its bright flowers and leaves and honey. Once an insect enters the pitcher with its foot in this trap, it can no longer get out of there. This is because the pitcher-shaped leaves have a waxy, slippery coating on the inside that prevents insects from rising to the top. After a few hours, the insects dissolve and become food for the plant.

Darlingtonia

It is also a species of pitcher plant or pitcher plant. Like other species of colas plants (e.g., Nepenthes), darlingtonia also traps prey in the pitfall trap method. However, like other pitcher plants, it does not allow rainwater to accumulate in the leaves like pitchers. It can control the amount of water in its jug. Excess water that has accumulated in the pitcher is pumped out by its roots. It is also known as Darlingtonia California or California Pitcher Plant because it was first found in California. The tubular leaves of this plant are also called cobra lilies because they look like hooded snakes.

Drosera

Drosera calls the method of hunting of national plants active 'flypaper trap'. In this method, the plants trap the insects with the help of a sticky substance on their body. A sticky salivary gland at the tip of the leaf, like the slender appendage of the drosacea, accumulates like dew drops. When an insect comes near it, its leaves spread very fast in that direction and the insects get stuck with the salivary glands. Once the insects are trapped, they easily turn into food. The origin of this plant is in South Africa. About 200 species have been found.

Venus Flytrap

The Venus flytrap traps the prey in the "snap trap" method. In other words, the sensitivity of the leaves of such plants is used to trap prey and turn it into food. The veins in the middle of the two halves of the leaves allow the leaves to open and close quickly.

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The inner surface of the leaf has small thorny hairs on the edges and across the edges. As soon as insects or any such prey come in contact with these hairs, the mouths of the leaves including the prey are closed very quickly. When the insects get stuck in the leaves, the digestive juices inside them slowly melt the soft parts of the insects and turn them into food. If very small insects get stuck in the leaves, the leaf mouth does not close. Because they cannot provide adequate food. Anything other than insects, such as small rocks or something else, but within twelve hours the trap reopens and takes it out. Due to the unique beauty of the Venus Flytrap, many people cultivate this plant at home.

Utricularia

The method by which this plant hunt is called "bladder trap". This is why Utricularia is also called bladderwort. The body has tiny traps shaped like a bladder. This trap has sensitive small hairs on its face. Any insect that comes in contact with the hair actually opens the mouth of the bladder and pulls the prey into it in the blink of an eye. A kind of digestive juice comes out of the hair inside the trap which turns the prey into food. This species is found more in Asia and Europe. They have no real roots as they float in water. That is why they survive by preying on the leaves.