So, there was I, walking along a footpath in Mrytleland, keeping my eyes downcast to avoid errant tree roots, when I saw a plant I’d never encountered before. It looked like this. In fact, this was it.
This is what the underside of the hood looked like.
I continued my perambulation, and then encountered a lady being pushed along in a wheelchair. When I showed her the photos, she knew exactly what the plant was, and identified it as a Cobra Lily. Thank you, Lady in a Wheelchair.
It is with excitement that I can tell you a bit about this plant. It’s a carnivorous plant, for crying out loud. Although it needs full sun, its roots need cold conditions. How selective is that?
What I took to be a bloom is, in fact, a modified leaf. The cunning plant lures its prey with a sweet nectar exuded inside the hood. Sharp downward pointing hairs combined with a slippery surface prevent the insect from escaping, and enzymes in the base of the hood soon transport the victim to that digestive home in the sky. The plant absorbs the results for nourishment. All of this is achieved without leaving the comfort of its comfy home, albeit with ice cold feet.
Isn’t nature wonderful?
I love it
beauty,death,and cold feet
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It has it all, Sheldon!
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Now I’m itching to see how it actually ensnares, captures and eats its prey. Maybe you could toss it a ham sandwich and see what happens? 😉
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I’ll get a little tiny video camera and set it up near the plant, then release all of my pet insects. The documentary will be on YouTube, Lottie. 🙂
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Brilliant. But don’t poke your nose in too far.
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OK, I’ll listen to you for a change, John.
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Downright scary!
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Have you read The Day of the Triffids? Someone suggested they are mini-triffids. Shiver.
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Thanks for noticing these Yvonne. They look like a lot of other things, but some of the carnivorous plants are very strange. And this one needs very specific conditions. Fascinating!
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The plant world is so full of wonders. As is the animal kingdom, although some of the humans could do with being digested by a plant, as Gerard suggests.
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I have a few politicians in mind as well.
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Funny how most of us have a little list of politicians that we’d sacrifice to a large carnivorous plant.
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Yes, like Audrey from The Little Shop of Horrors. I can see feeding her quite a few pols.
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How lovely! Kind of like a cross between a calla lily, an anthurium and a Venus fly-trap, maybe What sort of size are the blooms? Interesting to see they grow wild in Greece too – I wonder where they originated? I often wish I’d kept my childhood ‘Observer’ books.
I imagine Oz is like Britain in that you’re not allowed to pick or dig up wild flowers?
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They really were eye-catching, even though not all that large nor flamboyant. The hood is about the size of the last 2 joints on your small finger. The leaves are very glossy and somewhat the shape of ivy. They are what attracted my attention, growing around the base of some trees beside the footpath.
You’re right, we’re not supposed to take wild flowers from their own area.
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Maybe they eat mosquitos. What a lovely thought.
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We should all grow heaps of these plants, and other members of this useful family.
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I wonder if this plant, with some genetic tinkering, could produce the enzymes to digests entire politicians? All those downward pointing hairs on the inside of this plant plus the odour might well entice politicians to climb inside. I can just see (and rejoice) Mr Anti refugee Politician or Mr Morrison’s’ hand sticking up in a desperate last effort to stay alive being sucked up inside this giant pitcher plant.
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Your idea would be rather popular, not just in Australia. I’d like to see the leader of the PUP mob (well, very small mob, large leader) being dealt with in that manner.
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Or, Mr Trump hand in hand with Clive Palmer!
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The Perfect Match, Gerard.
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We have someone here whose name I refuse to utter that I would gladly feed to a giant version of this plant. Okay, probably more than one but I’m referring to the most currently prominent one. And for those of you who don’t know…I live in the USA.
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Wouldn’t that solve a lot of problems, Michelle!
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That just about the coolest thing ever!
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Aren’t they wonderful?
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No wonder it caught your eye Yvonne. What an unusual looking plant. Good spotting!
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I think I had just skidded on some slippery leaves, which made me slow down or else I’d never have seen them, et.
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Be careful Yvonne. Don’t do yourself a damage.
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It could be the end of my career as an elite athlete!
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And that would be disastrous 😃
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It’s a very pretty flower and I’m glad that there aren’t any palm trees that do the same thing or we all might be in trouble.
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I must get you and Gerard together, you’d make a good team for dealing with some politicians, and Justin Bieber.
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Bye-bye, fly!
Carnivorous plants are so fascinating.
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You only say that, because you’re not an insect.
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It’s a baby Triffid ! 😉 ❤
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Now, that is not a thought to give me comfort, Ralph. 🙂 ❤
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Oh it is lovely, I rather like it. But really now, wouldn’t it look better on your kitchen table? Did you pick it? I wont tell anyone. 😉
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No, you have to dig it out, and I didn’t have my break and enter tools with me that day.
I’d need to have a heat lamp for the top, ice cubes for the roots and an open window for the insects. Nah, I’ll just enjoy it in its environment.
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Oh righty-ho. I do understand. Sometimes it is just best to enjoy nature rather than uprooting and stealing. I mean, who does that?
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It is! Nature brings joy and smiles!
What a unique plant! Thank you for teaching us about it!
HUGS!!! 🙂
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I was so lucky a) to see the plant, and b) for that lady to come along a few moments later to tell me the name. I love serendipity to pieces. Hugs to you.
I’ve been listening to Leonard ALL day! 🙂 ❤
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Yes! That IS serendipitous! 🙂 I’m always wondering names of plants.
Thank you for sharing him with me today! I love him, too! 🙂 ❤
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We have these in Greece, in the woods near our house! I never knew what they were called, so thank you, Yvonne!
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Aren’t they something to see, M.L.? I didn’t get my nose close enough to see what they smelled like.
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I always thought they were some kind of orchid…
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I wonder if they are some relatives of orchids? Maybe a botanist will come along and tell us.
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Carnivorous plants! Wow don’t get your fingers too close.
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And you and Dave think you have scary adventures. Phhhft!!
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Exactly you wild and crazy risk taker!
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But, only in training.
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Anyone who is hot headed, has cold feet and sucks flies is not anyone I care to know.
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I’ll keep you apart, in that case, Cynthia.
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It does look kind of snaky!
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They’re so different. I guess they just flourish in our winter, the summers would give them hot feet.
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Fantastic find!
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Another of those lucky “stumbled-upon”, long leggy one.
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It was probably just as well you were looking down dear Yvonne – those cobras look ready to strike at anything that gets too close! Nature is pretty amazing – but I do think she was on something when she decided carnivorous plants were a good idea!
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Ma Nature has so many pharmaceuticals to choose from!
They’re such interesting/bizarre plants.
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Let’s hope that the cobra didn’t get the lady in the wheel chair.
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I didn’t like to introduce gloom into the story, so had omitted that part, Bruce. But, you blew my cover.
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LOL! I THINK that the stems of the flower/leaf develop red berried that are poisonous – sort of like a little bright red Brussels sprout.
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You could serve that up in one of your bedtime stories, Bruce Almighty.
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I’ve only got three left to write… !
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Don’t remind us of the wrench that is to come, B.A.
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Bruce, you’re thinking of Jack in the Pulpits, which do that. I think they are trilliums, but can’t say for sure.
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Yes – I wondered that – because the smell is a bit stinky!
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I had an email from Bert who said “I think Bruce may be thinking of a plant we call ‘lords-and-ladies’ (Arum maculatum), a non-carnivorous plant with poisonous red berries and a plethora of other common names — snakeshead, adder’s root, arum, wild arum, arum lily, lords-and-ladies, devils and angels, cows and bulls, cuckoo-pint, Adam and Eve, bobbins, naked girls, naked boys, starch-root, wake robin, friar’s cowl and jack in the pulpit.” Not one Cobra Lily in the lot.
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He might be. I was thinking of a woodland plant here in the US https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arisaema_triphyllum Once jack gets a bit old he gets bright red berries. Hmmm. Who knows what Bruce could be thinking anyway?
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Indeed, who knows what Bruce might be thinking, most times! Are we going to have an International Day of Blog Mourning on 7 July??
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Hard to tell. It will be strange not to have a bit of chosen perversity in my day. (Most of it is encountered without my consent)
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