Man Eating Plants!

When I was a kid I thought somewhere in the world there must be a carnivorous plant that was so big it could eat a car! You know Little Shop of Horrors style.

 Man-eating plant from the front cover of 

an issue of the fiction magazine Amazing Stories

Official poster featuring Audrey II for the 

1986 film musical Little Shop of Horrors (Warner Bros)

Fast forward 25 years later and I find myself walking through the most extensive collection of carnivorous plants in the world. And while I didn't find a car eating plant what I did find truly amazed me.

Like any good story this one starts with a girl. A girl who asked me to join her on a road trip to Northern California. I guess she needed a date for a good friends wedding and who was I to say no to a cute girl. Besides I'd been looking for an excuse to visit this place I'd heard about that supposedly had the world's largest public collection of carnivorous plants.

Located about an hour north of San Francisco is the town of Sebastopol, there lies one of the most unique plant nurseries you'll ever visit. California Carnivores is first and foremost a carnivorous plant nursery but it could be looked at as a throwback old amusement park sideshow. Sporting plants that can melt their victims and others that bear fangs dripping with venom. Hali'a and I both share a love for plants so after a brief description we were on our way!

In the parking lot we were greeted by two huge Venus Fly Traps painted with eyes and a sign that read "California Carnivores" and what ensued would forever change my view of plants.

Upon entry we were greeted by two kids; Axel, 17, and  David, 13, apparently were in charge on this early Sunday morning. Looking around it had seemed we walked into a scene from Alice and Wonderland where meat eating plants of all shapes, colors, and sizes surprised us around every corner as we were lead by these young men through a labyrinth of green houses. To my surprise and delight, Axel and David knew more about these plants then probably most horticultural undergrads. This was confirmed by a very impressed Hali'a who had taken horticulture college classes.

As we walked they talked to us about the various types of CP's on hand. North American and Tropical Pitcher plants, Sundews and Bladderworts, Cobra Lillies and of course the famous Venus Fly Trap to name a few. Plants that snapped closed on their prey as well as some who acted like fly paper trapping their victims with sticky liquid that would eventually melt their exoskeletons. There were others that didn't eat their supposed prey but instead formed a mutually exclusive relationship with them providing them food in the form of a rich sugary secretions, as in the case of the tropical pitcher plant Nepenthes lowii, whose pitchers are shaped in a way that allows the mountain tree shrew a seat like a toilet from which to defecate into while eating the sugary secretion. 

Now that's recycling!

     

The level of knowledge that was imparted on us was both fascinating and a bit overwhelming.

I had anticipated being visually amazed but the level of education we received enriched our experience ten-fold. After a little while Hali'a wandered off leaving me to geek out with Axel and after another half hour I too parted ways choosing to wander about solo. Axel had pointed out which species no longer existed in the wild and taught me how North America actually has more native species of CPs then any other continent. I walked around enchanted, as though I was a kid again.

Photo Credit: Hali'a Eastburn

A little while later I found my self standing in front of a plant with fangs wondering how and why in the world would a plant that apparently couldn't move need fangs. My imagination ran wild with ideas that were only just as interesting as the truth which I would soon learn. Shortly after I checked the time and was blown away that four hours had passed! Moving through the greenhouses I found Hali'a and I mentioned that the trip wouldn't be complete without a couple souvenirs. $300 later I had myself a new hobby or what some would call the beginning of a new obsession.

On my way out I asked Axel about the fanged plant and he told me that it was called Nepenthes bicalcarata, an endemic species to the northwest part of Borneo, whose venom dripping fangs were actually part of its trapping mechanism. The "venom" was actually a sweet nectar that attracted ants which would walk down the fangs to get their fill. This is where it goes bad for the ants. The fangs which are easy to walk down are nearly impossible to walk back up due to the hundreds of tiny hairs that point downwards. In addition to the hairs, the plant secrets a slippery liquid which eventually causes the ants to fall and land in the pool of digestive enzymes at the bottom of the trap. And there you have it! The weird world of nature at its best.

Photo Credit: Drew Martinez

So while I didn't find a plant that could eat a car I did find one with fangs that dripped with what looked like venom. Literally a plant with teeth worthy of any great horror movie just like the Little Shop of Horrors... and oh yeah, Axel even went to the back to find one to sell to me!