In the summer of 1957, a funny news appeared in a respected German newspaper: “A predator tree has been found in Central Africa that devours birds, animals and people.” Naturally, the message immediately became the subject of lively discussions. Some refused to believe it and called the news a newspaper duck. Others, relying on myths and legends that repeatedly spoke of plant monsters feeding on the blood and flesh of animals and people, argued that the existence of a predator tree was quite possible.
In the end, all eyes turned to the man who provided sensational information and photographs to the newspapermen. He was the German biologist Klaus von Schwimmer. On the street, in a store, in a coffee shop, people continually pestered him with questions. The scientist had no choice but to tell in detail about all the vicissitudes of his dangerous journey to the heart of Central Africa.
Expedition to Mujang
In certain circles, or more precisely, among gambling adventurers and safari lovers, there have long been rumors about a strange place in the upper reaches of the Capombo River in Central Africa: they say it is better to avoid it. All this looked rather strange, because there, not far from the town of Mujanga, in the foothill jungle there was a lot of game, and the small population was reputed to be very hospitable... And, nevertheless, expeditions that went up and down the neighboring areas rarely visited there. The surroundings of Mujang, or rather, the unspoken taboo on visiting them, piqued the curiosity of one businessman from Germany. His advanced years did not allow him to go on a risky journey himself, and therefore he decided to equip an expedition and send it into the forbidden jungle.
Thanks to his reputation as an experienced traveler, hunter and researcher of little-studied animals, Klaus von Schwimmer came to the attention of a businessman. It was difficult to imagine a better candidate. After some persuasion, Klaus agreed to go to Africa. Under the command of von Schwimmer there were 25 people: 5 white and 20 black porters, led by the headman, an experienced hunter from the Baroste tribe.
Fragrance trap
On the fourth day of the journey, the morning breeze brought a thick spicy smell, completely unusual for the tropical forest. Experienced travelers were wary: anything unusual means danger.
After exchanging short remarks, they realized that everyone perceives smell differently. Klaus insisted that it was Camembert: he would not confuse the aroma of his favorite cheese with anything. Joe believed that this was the roast game that he adored more than anything in the world. Bow kept saying it was strawberry.
However, what exactly it smelled of was not so important. The main thing is that the aroma was mesmerizing, persistently beckoning into the depths of the wilds. Talking uncertainly, people moved in the direction from which the intoxicating call was coming.
The jungle thinned out, and soon the travelers came to a large clearing. Round, at least 100 meters in diameter, it was covered with a carpet of short grass, thinning towards the center - there was a lone tree there. Or rather, a grove tree, similar to an Indian banyan tree: in addition to the main trunk, there were several more thin ones. Numerous vines hung from the branches of the tree. The smell intensified sharply. All feelings were erased, thoughts disappeared, except for one: “Forward, to the unusual tree.”
In a daze, the men stepped onto the strange lawn. The persistent call gave rise to internal resistance, but the feeling of self-preservation fell silent, as if someone ordered: “Go to sleep.”
Beneath the spreading canopy, the soil was uneven and white. Klaus brought the binoculars to his eyes... and woke up: “Get back! the smell is a trap... This tree is a predator! It lured us in! Look: there are bones and skulls all around! Let's quickly run away!"
A desperate cry had no effect; I had to give my companions a couple of slaps on the back of the head. Having retreated to a safe distance, the men finally figured out to close their nostrils and went to explore the dangerous clearing.
Voracious vines
“Look, a human skeleton... Another one! And skulls... We need to check what happens when prey approaches the tree. I’ll get the bait,” with these words Klaus took the rifle off his shoulder and looked up. Vultures circled lazily in the sky. A shot - and a couple of minutes later he was already dragging the limp bird by the wing. He spun it over his head and threw it into a tree. The reaction followed immediately: the vines hanging from the branches moved, stretched, and soon the carcass of the vulture disappeared into the swarming crown of the tree.
Further events unfolded rapidly. The hunters, who did not expect that the tree was dangerous even at a distance, watched what was happening as if spellbound. But then one of the tree vines shot out and instantly, like a lasso, wrapped itself around Joe. The friends were not taken aback, they cut off the vine with a machete, freed their friend and trudged back to the camp.
But, having moved quite a bit away from the ominous place, they heard a heart-rending scream. They rushed back - in the center of the damned clearing a huge lump of vines was moving. Inside, the shoulders and head of a black man, stunned with horror, could be seen. He still tried to resist, but it was clear that he could not escape from the death trap. After a few minutes the screams died down. More and more vines crawled down from above...
At this point they decided to tell the natives everything, then they would help deal with the plant predator. Klaus still tried to object, insisting on a “unique chance for science,” but the others didn’t even listen—the tree had to be destroyed, and immediately.
We set out at dawn. Having carefully plugged their nostrils with balls of tree resin, they dragged dry dead wood into the terrible clearing until noon. Finally, the first armful was set on fire, and the burning shells flew into the tree. As if in agony, it shot out tentacles towards the fires, but, scorched, they immediately burned out. The burning monster emitted a foul stench.
By the end of the day the grueling struggle was over. A thick layer of ash covered the clearing. The next day, having marked the location of the green monster on the map, the expedition set out on the return journey.
There were countless unanswered questions. Was it only aromatic illusions that attracted victims to the tree? Or was it a more complex, perhaps symbiotic organism that issued a telepathic call, and the smell was just an additional signal, a means of psychic attack? In this regard, the selectivity of smell for different people is curious. Why did some people see the smell of their favorite cheese, while others smelled of fried meat? Alas, the terrible mystery remained unsolved.
Judicial case
The very first reports of the discovery of a man-eating tree caused a flurry of angry criticism among scientists. Everyone took up arms against von Schwimmer: conservative zoologists, botanists, and experts on tropical Africa. Some questioned the very existence of the tree and accused the scientist of lying and falsification. Others say that he destroyed God’s unique creation. The matter went to trial. But von Schwimmer's companions confirmed his story under oath. Professor de Groost from Cape Town went to Northern Rhodesia and, with the help of the authorities, tracked down several natives from Schwimmer's expedition. They repeated his story word for word. A year later, the Brussels Tropical Institute organized an expedition that managed to discover a clearing of death with an incredible amount of animal and human bones. This was the strongest evidence of the existence of a killer tree.
Space alien?
After the infamous voyage, von Schwimmer more than once received tempting offers from private individuals to lead a well-equipped expedition with the full support of local authorities. But he invariably refused. The sensationalism of the topic gradually faded, debates and discussions faded away, and the octopus tree was forgotten. And local authorities vetoed visiting that area. Entry there was denied to everyone - hunters, scientists, and tourists. The existence of the predatory tree described by von Schwimmeroy did not raise doubts only among ufologists. They immediately identified him as an alien from another planet. Of course, it did not migrate to Earth, but was brought accidentally in the form of a spore by interstellar ships. Therefore, today cryptobiologists do not lose hope of finding such a creature hiding in some forgotten corner of the planet.
We calmly walk through the forest, have picnics in nature, grow exotic plants on the windowsill, and yet... The real world of plants is very different from the well-groomed park in which we live, and there is plenty of evidence of this.
Man-eating plants
The sensation of 1958 was a photograph brought by amateur hunter (and biologist by profession) Klaus von Schwimmer from the wilds of Central Africa in 1958. It depicted a predatory tree that fed on the flesh of animals and people. Schwimmer organized an expedition intending to explore the upper reaches of the Kapomobo River in Northern Rhodesia. There was a small but completely unexplored region of foothill jungle, rich in game and inhabited by fairly peaceful natives. The expedition included five whites and 20 porters, led by an experienced hunter and interpreter from the Barotse tribe. Travelers ascended the river in motorboats, then went deeper into the jungle, cutting their way with machetes. They were heading towards one of the nameless mountains. And suddenly we felt an intense smell, unusual for a tropical forest, brought by the morning breeze.
Travelers immediately noticed that they sensed this smell in different ways. To Klaus it reminded him of the aroma of his favorite Camembert, to Joe it reminded him of a well-done steak, to Bow it reminded him of some delicate berry, and to the others it reminded him of strawberries. The most important thing is that he was very attractive and seemed to call to his source. Talking uncertainly, people moved in that direction. And soon they came to a large clearing. It was round, about seventy meters in diameter and covered with a dense carpet of short grass, gradually disappearing towards the center. There, in a ring of gray-yellow earth, stood a lone grove of trees similar to an Indian banyan tree: in addition to the thick main trunk, there were several more. The crown is wide, with dense dark shiny leaves, 30 meters in diameter. Numerous vines hung from the branches.
"The amazing smell intensified, suppressed all senses, pushed forward to a strange tree. The travelers slowly stepped forward, and then Klaus brought binoculars to his eyes and immediately commanded: Quickly cover your noses! It's a trap! There's a thick layer of bones! This tree is a predator! We need to get out from here!"
Time passed before his comrades began to come to their senses. After a short meeting, we tightly sealed our nostrils with chewing gum and carefully approached the tree. “Look! There's a human skeleton over there! And to the right - another one! And skulls." Yes, many animals ended their lives here - not hundreds, thousands. And a lot of people...
— We need to check whether it attacks or passively waits for the victim. I'll get the bait. — Klaus looked up, taking the rifle with a telescopic sight off his shoulder. Several corpse eaters lazily circled in the sky, looking for prey. Klaus fired - and a few minutes later returned, dragging a bare-necked vulture by the wing. When he threw it under the nearest tree branches, there was a quick reaction: the vines hanging down moved and reached out to the place where the bird fell, entwining it. Soon she resembled a ball of snakes. The hunters did not realize the possible danger and, frozen, watched. Suddenly, a green ribbon shot out from the branches, instantly engulfing Joe's torso, pinning his arms to his sides like a lasso. He could barely stand on his feet from the jerk. Bow swung the machete - blow, another blow! Having sprayed everyone with juice, the severed “liana” jumped back. Having run back about ten meters, the travelers freed Joe from the dangerous tentacle, at the end of which there was a hook with jagged edges that helped hold the victim. A piece of tentacle very quickly began to darken, soften, and after a few minutes disintegrated into lumps of mucus.
“We decided not to say anything to the porters. Perhaps this tree was sacred to them and associated with some taboos. But the next seconds forced them to change their decision - a heart-rending screech was heard nearby! They rushed forward: on the edge of the bone belt a ball of tentacles was moving. two black legs were sticking out of him. Realizing the futility of their attempt, Joe and Klaus nevertheless rushed forward with raised machetes. Several tentacles “shot” towards them, but they could not reach them. After a few seconds, the screams died down. More and more vines crawled down from above.” Now a ball with a diameter of three meters has formed around the body of the unfortunate black man.”
The terrible news became known among the porters. The opinion of all blacks was unequivocal - the dangerous predator must be destroyed. At dawn, they carefully plugged their nostrils with balls of resin from some tree, obtained by the headman. They began to drag armfuls of branches to the edge of the “clearing of death.” By noon, we had collected enough brushwood and dried vines. They began to throw armfuls of dry branches onto the bone belt and immediately set them on fire. The tree, as if sensing mortal danger, shot out tentacles towards the fires, but instantly retracted them back. Half an hour later, in a large area, the lower branches and the thin trunks that supported them began to crackle and smoke. The burning monster emitted a terrible stench. Then the flames easily ran up the leaves...
By the end of the day the grueling work was almost finished. The bones of the victims were covered with a thick layer of ash and coals. The next day we started working on the central trunk. It turned out to be not very thick - only about 30 centimeters in diameter. It was cut down at ground level, then a large fire was laid out on the nest of the man-eating tree to burn out all the abomination without a trace. Apparently, the roots also gradually burned, as choking smoke began to emerge from many holes in the ground where the supporting trunks were attached. Of course, there was no final certainty that the predatory monster would not be reborn from some randomly surviving part...
The following year, the Tropical Institute in Brussels organized an expedition that actually discovered a “death clearing” with an incredible amount of bones belonging to a wide variety of animals. Scientists noted that the thick layer of bones allows us to judge that they accumulated here for hundreds of years. By the way, the human remains that the discoverers imagined and any other material traces of people’s presence in the “clearing of death” were not found. Either they really imagined it out of fear, or the aborigines, in accordance with their beliefs, carefully removed everything: buttons, buckles, remnants of clothing and weapons, shoes, native amulets and European crosses. Yes, but the human bones and skulls themselves, no, no, flashed among the remains of other living creatures.
So, in 1959, the Belgian expedition safely returned from the “glade of death”. But further... Over the years, several groups of hunters from the USA and Europe and two small scientific expeditions disappeared without a trace in these places. Their deaths were blamed, as usual, on pygmy cannibals, although competent scientists denied their existence. The mystery has still not been solved because no one else has been able to discover a living man-eating tree.
Vampire trees
For the first time, amateur naturalist George Dunstan encountered a vampire plant more than 100 years ago. This happened in Nicaragua, where this monster, which the Miskito Indians call the “snake tree,” trapped a naturalist’s dog in its branches and drank all her blood.
Much later, a similar case was observed by American traveler Steve Spike in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas mountains in Mexico. A large bird sat on a branch of a vampire tree, and it, like a snake, wrapped itself around the victim and began to squeeze, greedily absorbing the protruding blood. Then the rings unclenched, and the vampire tree dropped the bird’s corpse, squeezed out like a lemon, to the ground. Spike decided to test the green monster's reaction for himself. He touched his hand to one of the lower branches, which turned out to be flexible, like a vine. In the blink of an eye, she latched onto her palm so tightly that the unlucky researcher managed to pull his hand away with great difficulty, leaving a bloody abrasion on the skin.
Indirect confirmation of the existence of green vampires are the mysterious cases during the war between Paraguay and Bolivia in 1932-1935. Military operations often took place in the dry woodlands of the Gran Chaco. Here, under strange low trees unknown to botanists, emitting a strong aroma, corpses of people were often found. They were all wrapped in huge leaves. Local residents told the military that the unfortunate people were attracted to the tree by the smell of its flowers. It stunned them like a drug, after which the leaves wrapped themselves around the unconscious victim and sucked out their blood.
In 2001, Brazilian naturalist Mariano da Silva discovered a carnivorous palm-like tree that ate raw meat in a rainforest bordering Guyana. It lured sloths and monkeys with the sweet, intoxicating smell emitted by the leaves at its top. Having inhaled it, the animal froze in a rosette of leaves that closed over the victim, so that it found itself inside a dense green cocoon. Moreover, the monkeys did not have time to make a sound, as if they were in a deep trance. Over the course of 3-4 days, the tree digested the prey and then dropped the cleanly “gnawed” bones to the ground.
Despite the evidence of travelers and naturalists who saw plant vampires and cannibals with their own eyes, scientists are in no hurry to admit their reality. This reflects the well-known inertia of scientific authorities. Meanwhile, there is nothing fantastic in their existence, since today smaller copies of green predators grow - insectivorous grasses.
According to some scientists, their carnivorous ancestors grew in abundance across the planet 3.5 million years ago. Moreover, they reached very respectable sizes, comparable to large representatives of the then fauna. Then, over the course of evolution, plant predators shredded them, just like those they hunted. As is known, during the development of the Earth, the climate changed least in the equatorial tropical zones. Therefore, the most ancient reptiles living on earth - crocodiles and turtles - were preserved there. The same thing quite possibly happened in the plant kingdom, which means that some ancient giant carnivorous trees could have survived to this day.
What is the tree crying about?
People suffering from tropical fever are cured after one touch of it, and patients suffering from swelling of the legs, tuberculosis, and heart pain also receive relief. All these miracles are performed by an old tree - mahua, growing in a suburban garden of the capital of India, Delhi.
Several years ago, a gardener decided to cut down this tree. But after the first blow of the ax, a red liquid came out from under the bark, and from somewhere there came a sound similar to a dull voice. The gardener fled in horror, throwing his ax. And then he told everything to the owner of the garden. Soon rumors about the miracle tree spread far beyond the Indian capital. Crowds of sick and suffering besiege the garden gates every day.
Actually, talking and bleeding trees are not new at all. They were also mentioned by Ovid and Dante, based on eyewitness accounts, traditions and legends. In England, for example, people still remember the ancient oak tree that was toppled by a storm in 1883. He was considered half-human. When the wind broke the branches of the tree, it screamed and bled. Pilgrims stood for days at the mighty trunk, praying to the miracle tree for help and intercession from evil forces.
In the same England, a giant yew still grows today, which is believed to be at least 700 years old. The most amazing thing is that blood is constantly oozing from the deep hollow of the tree. And in Madagascar, eucalyptus grows, which also bleeds if its trunk is damaged. It is no coincidence that local residents consider the tree sacred, decorate it with colorful ribbons and worship it as a deity.
By the way, the French ambassador collected some red eucalyptus liquid and sent it to Paris for examination. Studies have shown that this liquid has nothing in common with either human or animal blood, or with the sap of an ordinary tree. The same is the case with the Delhi miracle and the English yew.
Ashes in flower pots
"An increasing number of houseplants, for some unknown reason, are suddenly igniting and burning to the ground, baffling botanists. At least 3,500 such cases were recorded in the United States last year alone
“We are not able to find the cause of this phenomenon,” admits botanist Kevin Dorman. — Science still cannot solve the problem of spontaneous combustion of people, and now plants have been added to this mystery.
The researchers found that the plants were kept away from fire and were not exposed to sunlight or heat treatment. In most cases, a pile of ash remained from the green spaces. The most incredible thing is that the fire did not harm the furniture or other objects in the room.
A typical case of spontaneous combustion of a plant occurred in the English town of Blyth (the London Daily Telegraph wrote about it). Carol Westgarth, 52, was at home when she noticed a 1.5-metre tall yucca tree begin to smoke. While she called the fire brigade, only smoldering coals remained from the yucca. There was no electrical wiring in the room and no one was smoking in the room, a fire department spokesman confirmed.
The only thing that experts have found is that some plants are more prone to spontaneous combustion than others. We are talking, in particular, about African violets and hydrangeas. Some scientists believe that spontaneous combustion of plants has something to do with global warming and the loss of the Earth's protective ozone layer. According to Dorman, it is possible that ultraviolet radiation levels are now so high that some delicate plants are overdosing on the sun's rays. They are unable to absorb this energy and... ignite. And this mystery of spontaneous combustion makes them similar to us - people.
Singing tree
American geneticist Willard Stop, working in one of the laboratories in Tennessee, created the world's first... singing tree. He hopes that soon the singing poplars of his selection will appear in all US nurseries.
“This is, of course, not the Viennese boys’ choir, but if you listen closely, you will hear a soft melody and even be able to distinguish the words,” Stop told reporters.
When he began his work in 1989, he had no idea about creating a singing tree. The geneticist was trying to determine whether, by transplanting human genes into plant cells, it was possible to transfer any human characteristics to the latter.
“The first experiments ended in complete failure,” says Stop. “But as time passed, something curious arose. For example, one of the plants we created developed human hair. I was very pleased with the results. But one day one of my friends asked me: can we create a tree with human eyes or a brain? At first, this idea seemed too incredible and contrary to moral standards to me. However, the desire to create something completely unusual won out, and I decided to grow a tree that could speak.
Doctor Ostanovy received the first batch of unusual plants in 2005. Unlike ordinary poplars, this one has thin vocal cords running along the entire length of the trunk under the bark. Of course, a tree does not have lungs or a brain, so it is not capable of speaking on its own, but it can reproduce what you yourself tell it. The trunk will pick up the sound and its vocal cords will begin to vibrate, repeating the words the tree just heard.
The scientist has already grown 25 thousand of these poplars, and as soon as he receives official permission to sell them, many Americans will apparently be able to plant entire choirs of trees similar to different voices near their homes.
This incident is surprising in itself, but even more surprising is the thought it suggests. If singing, thinking, talking, etc. plants can be created in a genetics laboratory, then they could appear themselves in the greatest genetic laboratory - in the laboratory of Mother Nature. Perhaps J. Tolkien, who in his epic “The Lord of the Rings” invented intelligent ents and tree-men walking the earth, was not such an inventor after all?..
Have you ever heard of man-eating trees? You've probably heard or read something at some point. Do you believe such stories? Surely not. In the 19th century, you could often read in newspapers about tropical trees eating animals and even, oh my God, just imagine, not disdaining people.
Everything secret is fraught with danger
How true are the stories about man-eating trees, what fueled the imagination of the storytellers? After all, knowing that there are plants that eat insects, can we confidently say “that can’t be true” when it comes to predatory trees?
By the beginning of the 19th century, almost all new lands had already been discovered, but their flora and fauna remained poorly studied. As you know, everything secret excites the imagination and is fraught with a threat... “Reliable” reports about man-eating plants began to appear in newspapers, but the storytellers had no facts confirming the existence of such species. In 1876 K.A. Timiryazev very accurately noted: “General attention can only be attracted by some curiosity like that newspaper duck about a carnivorous plant devouring living people, which recently appeared on the pages of many foreign and our newspapers and even ended up in special publications.”
And indeed, despite the fact that scientists categorically denied such phenomena, “general attention” followed with undying interest the publications in the press, which was in no hurry to abandon such fertile material.
- Can't be! - Alice exclaimed. – I can’t believe this! - Can not? – repeated the Queen with pity. – Try again: take a deep breath and close your eyes.
L. Carroll. Alice in the Wonderland
Science and fiction
The patriarch of natural science, Charles Darwin himself, was seriously interested in carnivorous flora. “This is a wonderful plant, or rather, an unusually intelligent animal. I will defend my sundew until my last breath,” he once said in personal correspondence to the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker. And even ten years later, Darwin would write with unabated fervor that “there is no limit to this topic,” excitedly continuing to study the mysterious insect lovers.
The result of painstaking research was the work “Insectivorous Plants,” published in 1875 and lovingly provided with detailed comments and descriptions of inventive and varied experiments. Darwin arranged insectivorous plants in an evolutionary series according to the degree of increasing specialized adaptation, but in everything that had to do with the paradoxical history of their development, he was cautiously laconic...
In 1894, H.G. Wells made an orchid the main character of one of his science fiction stories, giving the harmless flower the features of a bloodthirsty vampire: “...He lay on his back at the foot of a strange orchid. The tentacle-like aerial roots no longer hung freely in the air; having come together, they formed a kind of ball of gray rope, the ends of which tightly clasped his chin, neck and arms.
...Screaming something inarticulate, she (the housekeeper - author's note) rushed to him and tried to tear off the leech-like suction cups. She broke several tentacles and red juice dripped from them. The overwhelming smell of the flowers made her dizzy. She pulled tight ropes, and everything around floated as if in a fog ... "
Madagascar - the land of the man-eating tree
Somewhere very, very far away, in a remote area of the island of Madagascar, grows a mysterious tepe - a sacred tree of the Mkodo tribe. The height of the tepe is about 2.5 m, the entire thick dark trunk is covered with hard thorns, its shape resembles a pineapple. Eight huge, as if withered leaves descend to the ground, on the inside they are dotted with many hooks. From the top of the tree extend two peculiar leaves, facing each other and resembling a bowl. Thin green tendrils extend upward from the center of the bowl, and viscous dark red juice slowly flows down the trunk. Six white vines, like snakes, continuously wriggle around the trunk...
While living among the tribe, the German missionary Karl Lihe learned about the sacred tepe tree, the mere mention of which would make any Mkodo tremble. He had to use many tricks and tricks to gain the trust of the savages, and only then was the stranger allowed to be present at the performance of the ritual rite at the sacred tree.
Mkodo Tepe plays a central role in the rituals. Periodically, the natives sacrifice one of their fellow tribesmen. The sacrifice ceremony begins with a ritual dance, during which the next victim is selected, brought to a tree trunk and forced to climb it. The unfortunate person must drink the juice from the cup-like top. As soon as the lips touch the nectar, the stems, like snakes, come to life and begin to make circles, approaching the person and entwining his legs. Meanwhile, the victim, having drunk the nectar, falls into a trance-like state, her body becomes sluggish and pliable. The two-meter antennae, which previously stuck out in different directions, also quickly rise up and tightly grasp the prey. As soon as it finds itself in a dense ball of flexible and durable tentacles attached to it, the leaves that were previously lying on the ground begin to move - they rise and, like thick blinds, slam shut. At the same time, the victim is squeezed so tightly that blood flows down the tree trunk, mixing with the sap of the tree. The dying cry of the unfortunate man merges with the cries of the Mkodo who have gone into ecstasy and is a signal for the start of the “feast”. All participants in the ceremony, ahead of each other, rush to the trunk to lick the drink flowing from the trunk and fall into a trance... For ten days, the leaves of the tree remain raised and closed, and then slowly open and, sinking to the ground, take their usual position. The only reminder of the recent sacrifice is the white skull lying at the foot of the tree.
In 1880, an American magazine New York World publishes an article about the “cannibal pineapple”, this story immediately becomes a sensation and is picked up by a number of other publications from different countries. Former Michigan Governor Chase Salmon Osborne is so impressed that he travels to Madagascar himself. The search for Tepe continues for more than two years, but without success. Nevertheless, in 1924, he published a book entitled “Madagascar - the land of the man-eating tree,” in which he fully cites the letter of the German traveler.
INFor many centuries, Madagascar has been called “the land of the man-eating tree.” However, scientistsNotwere able to obtain samples of this unique monster.
Sacred tree of the Zulu
“In South Africa there is a tree which the Zulus call umdglebi ( umdhlebi) - “sinister”. Umdglebi extracts carbonic acid gas from the soil and is constantly surrounded by a toxic cloud. The person who inhales it experiences a terrible headache, and death occurs in the next few hours. You can only approach this tree from the windward side when a strong wind is blowing. On such days, the aborigines organize sacred rituals near the umdglebi, making another sacrifice to him. Its fruits (large black pods with red tips) are believed to cure poisoning and are collected by the Zulus during rituals.” Such a note, authored by the missionary J. W. Parker, appeared in the journal Nature on November 2, 1882.
Living Daggers
In one of the issues " Sea and land" In 1887, one could read a report by J. W. Buell about the ya-te-veo trees: "They have a thick short trunk, from the top of which thorn-like shoots with dagger-shaped thorns at the edges hang down to the ground. At the slightest movement near the tree, the shoots rise sharply, wrap around the victim, pressing it to the trunk, pierce it with thorns and squeeze it. The blood that flows out is quickly absorbed through the porous bark.”
After returning from the tropical forests of Central America, the head of the ethnographic expedition, Kayleb Enders, told a similar story: “We have heard more than once from the Indians that in the thick of the forests there are carnivorous plants that supposedly feed on living creatures. One of them looks like a large thick cactus, studded with sharp dagger leaves. As soon as an unwary person comes close, the green “knives” instantly clamp down on him and pierce his body.”
Kyleb Enders, leader of an ethnographic expedition to Central America: “We have heard more than once from the Indians that in the thick of the forests there are carnivorous plants that supposedly feed on living creatures.”
Nicaraguan snake tree
Amateur naturalist George Dunstan, accompanied by a small pinscher named Joy, wandered through the rainforest of Nicaragua in search of rare plants. Hearing the desperate howl of his dog, the owner hurried towards the sound and saw the following. The dog was entwined with many aerial roots hanging from a low tree, and his neck was pinned There was a black flexible appendage wrapped around it, which sucked blood from the punctured skin. With great difficulty, Dunstan managed to cut the plant network with a knife and rescue Joy. In a nearby village, where the naturalist told the Indians about the attack, he was told that animals that fall into a trap in such a tree-snake die within five minutes from loss of blood, and his dog was simply lucky to survive. Professor Andrew Wilson told the world about this story, whose scientific note was published by an English newspaper Illustrated London News, published in August 1892.
Tree-grove
In 1958, the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published a sensational report under the headline “A man-eating tree has been discovered in the jungles of Central Africa!” In Northern Rhodesia (the territory of modern Zambia) there is a very inaccessible region of Barotseland, most of which is impenetrable jungle and is notorious among the locals. There, experienced and well-equipped European hunters disappeared without a trace - there were rumors that some kind of monster was devouring people. An expedition is being sent to explore the area, headed by hunter and biologist Klaus von Schwimmer. He hires two English hunters and 20 native porters from the Barotse tribe. Having ascended the river, travelers go deeper into the jungle. Suddenly, unexpectedly, they sense an unusual, attractive aroma, and each has their own association. The only thing that coincides is that everyone likes the smell and seems to call to the source. Intrigued, the hunters come to a large (about 70 m in diameter) clearing, covered with a dense carpet of short grass, gradually disappearing towards the center. There, in a ring of gray-yellow earth, a grove of trees similar to the Indian banyan tree grows: in addition to the massive main trunk, the giant’s crown is supported by numerous branches as thick as an arm, and many vines hang from the branches. The crown is wide, with dense dark shiny leaves, about 30 m in diameter.
In the clearing, the smell intensifies and an irresistible desire arises to approach the unusual plant. The British are already taking a few steps towards the tree when Schwimmer stops them - through binoculars he sees numerous bones scattered around the tree. Quickly coming to the conclusion that it’s all about the smell, which acts like a powerful drug, the hunters plug their nostrils with sulfur and approach the monster. Clean, as if polished bones literally cover the ground under the tree with a carpet, and on top lie two human skulls. Approaching about three meters to the tree, Klaus throws the shot, still warm vulture at it with all his might. The predator's reaction is lightning fast! As soon as the carcass crashes into the curtain of vines, they immediately come to life and wrap themselves around the bird, preventing it from falling to the ground.
Having marked the exact coordinates of the cannibal on the map, the members of the expedition do not have time to move far when they hear a wild scream from the direction of the clearing. Returning, they see a huge clump of vines moving under the tree, from which stick out the shoulders and head of a black porter writhing in agony.
The natives decided to burn the tree - the customs of their tribe require the destruction of the one who shed the blood of their fellow tribesman. The next morning, having covered their nostrils with balls of resin, the natives collected dead wood and, setting fire to armfuls of dry branches, began to throw them at the enemy, gradually narrowing the circle. When the fire burned out, only a thick layer of ash remained in its place, covering the melted bones of the victims.
In 1959, the Brussels Tropical Institute organized a new expedition to Rhodesia, which actually discovered a “clearing of death” with a huge number of bones of various animals and human remains. Scientists have found that they accumulated here for hundreds of years.
There are about 630 species of carnivorous plants today, and according to evolutionary theory they may have had a rich past. Some scientists believe that carnivorous ancestors grew in abundance in the Pleistocene 2.5 million years ago and reached sizes commensurate with the giant fauna of that time. Over the course of evolution, these plant predators chopped up, just like those they hunted.
From the book of American dendrologist Edwin Menninger "Bizarre Trees":
“...During the war in the Chaco between Paraguay and Bolivia, corpses were often found under a certain tree - human skeletons wrapped in its huge leaves. Blossfeld, who lived for some time in Mato Grosso, specifically began to investigate these stories. He discovered that the plant in question was Philodendron bipinnatifidum, whose leaves actually reach a meter or more in length. Rumor has it that people were attracted to the tree by the strong scent of its flowers; this smell stunned them like a drug, after which the leaves wrapped themselves around the unconscious victim and sucked out his blood. The flowers really smell very strongly, but people were attracted to this tree in the sun-scorched Chaco desert, where only thorns grow, by its shadow and the sweet pulp of its fruits, edible, like the fruits of its related monstera ( Monstera deliciosa). However, there is no poison or narcotic substances in the flowers and fruits. The corpses under it belonged to wounded people or people dying of thirst, who took refuge in the shade of a tree, and the leaves, always falling to the ground, actually closed over them, but not in order to drink blood. According to Blossfeld, this legend still circulates in Brazil - it is too fascinating for the newspapers to give it up so easily.”
About carnivorous plants
Insectivorous plants became known in the 18th century. The first accurate botanical description of the Venus flytrap was made by the English naturalist John Ellis in a letter to Carl Linnaeus in 1769. Data on the evolution of insectivorous plants are extremely scarce due to the small number of fossil remains of the latter.
Fifty years ago, Sunday newspapers published sensational news: a man-eating tree had been discovered that kills and swallows its victims. This fantastic story had already appeared in print from time to time over the previous 150 years. It was difficult to find more rewarding newspaper material while Madagascar, the Philippines and other distant lands remained unexplored - no one could catch the narrator in a lie. In addition, the fiction was supported by very real facts. After all, some plants actually feed on insects and other small living creatures. The largest of these flycatchers are the Borneo pitcher leaves (Nepenthes), whose pitcher leaves contain a liquid that attracts prey that drown in it and are then digested. But the largest pitchers are no more than 60 cm long and grow not on trees, but on vines.
The most famous among the “cannibals” is Anchar. This name (as it is used in print) was in itself a fiction, since in the scientific literature it designates a large tree of the nettle family (Antiaris toxicaria), which grows in India, Ceylon and further east throughout Burma and Malaysia all the way to the Philippine Islands. If the storyteller was driven into a corner, a tree from the vast genus of strychnine (Strychnos tieute, one of the 200 species included in this genus. Strychnine, used in medicine, is obtained from the Indian chilibucha (S. firvomica) was declared anchar. Curare, used by South American Indians, represents is a mixture of poisons obtained from S. toxifera and other plants.), belonging to a completely different family (Loganiaceae).
The main reason for such confusion was the desire of the natives at all costs to keep secret the composition of the poison with which they lubricated their arrows - and the juice of these and other plants was used to make poisons. Burkill wrote:
“As soon as the Europeans reached Malaysia, they, of course, immediately became acquainted with poisoned arrows and darts, but it took a long time before they found the plants from which the natives extracted poison. The first to describe plants was the monk Odoric, who lived from approximately 1286 to 1331. In the middle of the 17th century. The Dutch established themselves in Makassar, and the botanist Rumphius (G. Rumpf) tormented the local governor for a long time, obtaining from him information about the origin of poisons. He had to wait fifteen years for this information, but the information he received was deliberately falsified and distorted. In order to put an end to further inquiries, the botanist was specifically informed that approaching the tree was very dangerous. Rumphius conscientiously set out in the book everything that he managed to learn, and thus laid the foundation for the legends about the Anchar. He wrote:
“Under the tree itself, no other trees, no bushes, no grass grow - not only under its crown, but even at the distance of a thrown stone; the soil there is barren, dark and as if charred. The poisonousness of the tree is such that birds landing on its branches, having swallowed the poisoned air, become stupefied, fall to the ground and die, and their feathers cover the soil.”
“So pungent were the branches sent to me in a strong bamboo container that, putting my hand on the container, I felt the tingling sensation that we feel when going from cold to warm.”
Then Rumphius again returns to the information given to him:
“Everything touched by its evaporation dies, so all animals avoid it and birds try not to fly over it. Not a single person will dare to approach him unless his hands, feet and head are protected by a thick cloth.”
Exactly the same false information was collected and published by other scientists who visited Malaya in the 18th century. The result was fantastic stories about human sacrifices to appease the tree, about young girls being thrown to the monster, about people suddenly grabbed by writhing branches, and other nonsense. The first article based on these fantastic rumors was written in 1783 for an English magazine by a Dutch doctor named Fersch. Fersh's main sin was that he presented himself as an eyewitness to the fantastic incidents that he described. It is known that the mediocre surgeon Fersch actually served in the Dutch army at that time. It was not until 1805 that Lecheneau de la Tour, a French botanist working in Pondicherry, traveled to Java to view the tree and observe the production of the poison himself. It was Lecheneau who sorted out the confusion with the anchar and strychnine tree.
Undoubtedly, the milky juice of the first and the seeds of the second are very poisonous, and local residents have used them for thousands of years to make poisoned arrows.
From time to time there are newspaper reports about a man-eating tree in the interior of Brazil. During the war in the Chaco between Paraguay and Bolivia, corpses were often found under a certain tree - human skeletons wrapped in its huge leaves. Blossfeld, who lived for some time in Mato Grosso, specifically began to investigate these stories. He discovered that the plant in question was Philodendron bipinnatifidum, whose leaves actually reach a meter or more in length. Rumor has it that people were attracted to the tree by the strong scent of its flowers; this smell stunned them like a drug, after which the leaves wrapped themselves around the unconscious victim and sucked out his blood. The flowers really smell very strongly, but people were attracted to this tree in the sun-scorched Chaco desert, where only thorns grow, by its shade and the sweet pulp of its fruits, edible like the fruits of its related monstera (Monstera deliciosa). However, neither the flowers nor the fruits contain any poison or narcotic substances. The corpses underneath belonged to wounded or dying of thirst people who were hiding in the shade of a tree. The leaves, always falling to the ground, did indeed close over them, but not at all in order to suck their blood. According to Blossfeld, this legend still circulates in Brazil - it is too fascinating for the newspapers to give it up so easily.
Tree-eater
A huge “pineapple” as tall as an elephant grows alone in the wilderness of Madagascar forests. It has eight large leaves with sharp thorns like tiger claws, and at the top there are six white rods. The rods wriggle, cutting through the air with a whistle.
Twice a year, having laboriously made their way through the jungle, people come to the terrible tree to feed it with human meat. The prisoner, tied hand and foot, looks in horror at the green ogre, and he, as if anticipating an imminent feast, whips the tentacle rods harder through the air and hisses like a snake. The superstitious savages of the Mkodo tribe surround him with songs and dances. The doomed man is forced to drink the sap of a man-eating tree.
- Tsik! Tsik (Drink! Drink!)! - they shout to him.
And, intoxicated by the intoxicating poison, the unfortunate man himself climbs onto the top of the “pineapple.” Now white rods wrap around the victim’s neck, huge leaves studded with thorns, similar to agave leaves, like the jaws of a fantastic monster, close over the person and crush with terrible force, turning him into a flat cake.
Later, this message was reprinted by a number of other magazines, foreign and Russian. K. Lihe’s letter was also discussed in the scientific literature; it was also cited in full in his book “Madagascar, the Country of the Man-Eating Tree” (1924) by the famous American botanist Charles Osborne. The author adds that he lived in Madagascar for a long time, but did not see such a tree, but he met people who allegedly saw this tree. And all the local tribes know the green ogre well and can tell a lot about him.
All this is complete fiction, says another researcher of the fantastic tree, V. Lei. He looked through all the major books about Madagascar and in none of them did he find even a mention of the man-eating tree. Not a single traveler (with the exception of K. Lihe and those who repeated his fable) heard a word from local residents about the predatory “pineapple”. There is not even a similar legend in Madagascar, and no one has ever met the Mkodo tribe here.
It is clear that the missionary Karl Lihe created both the Mkodo tribe and its disgusting idol.
However, the legend of the man-eating tree continued to develop. Green cannibals began to be found in other countries.
A certain Donetan, once collecting marsh herbs near Lake Nicaragua in Central America, allegedly saw some leafless plant tightly entwining his hunting dog with flexible and sticky branches. Having with great difficulty freed the animal from the tenacious branches, Donethan noticed that his hands were covered in blood, and the branches of a strange plant were trying to entwine him. With the help of numerous suction cups, the green vampire is supposedly capable of sucking blood from a person or animal with incredible speed.
Another “eyewitness”, who fell into the tenacious embrace of such a plant, says that he had difficulty getting out of its bonds. In a rage, he chopped up the carnivorous plant with an ax and set it on fire. When the branches of the devil's tree ignited, there was a smell of burnt meat all around.
Fantastic stories about a terrible plant that feeds on animals and people are still published from time to time on the pages of some magazines and newspapers (and not only foreign ones!). Every year, editorial offices and botanical institutes receive a large flow of letters from readers who want to finally find out: is it true or a myth - a man-eating tree?
Of course it's a myth. There are no predatory trees in the world.
Trees. But not plants in general, because there are green predators in nature! However, they are not cannibals, but just fly eaters.
Go to the forest swamp. There, on the unsteady soil, among the green tufts of moss, you will notice the stunted panicles of an inconspicuous flower, rising on long stems from a rosette of very strange leaves; the leaf is densely covered with long thin cilia. At the end of each eyelash a shiny droplet trembles. This sundew is a carnivorous plant of the northern forests.
Watch it, and maybe you will be able to notice how a mosquito or fly, carelessly landing on a leaf, will be captured by the sundew's eyelashes. An eyelash with an insect attached to its droplet will bend downward, and neighboring eyelashes will press against it. Prey caught!
Sundew and fly. Two acts of a small tragedy.
The sticky liquid firmly glues the beating insect in its death throes to the leaf. If the prey is too large, then the entire leaf bends in half and grabs the victim, squeezing it like a fist. When two insects sit on one leaf, the cilia, these tenacious fingers of the sundew, separate: some rush to the first victim, others to the second. It happens that other sundew leaves come to the aid of a leaf that has grabbed a very large prey, such as a dragonfly. Along the smallest veins-vessels that pierce the leaves, like nerves, signals about captured prey are transmitted in all directions. Tentacle cilia, like the paws of a fantastic predator, slowly reach out to a mosquito caught in a sticky trap. When you look at the fierce fight between a plant and an insect, it seems as if two living beings are fighting, and stories about a terrible man-eating tree, a devourer of animals and people, involuntarily come to mind.
The sensitivity of sundew eyelashes is amazing!
A microscopic piece of female hair, 0.2 millimeters long and weighing 0.000822 milligrams, placed on a leaf causes the cilia to bend. The tip of a person's tongue - the most sensitive part of our body - would not feel the touch of such a speck of dust.
Numerous glands covering the leaves of insectivorous plants secrete not only sticky liquid, but also real digestive juices. In their composition they resemble our gastric juice. It’s no wonder that the leaves of carnivorous plants can digest meat, cheese, blood, seeds, pollen, pieces of bones and even hard, metal-like tooth enamel. Having digested all this, the leaf of the insectivorous plant absorbs and assimilates the nutritious juices of its victim.
Next to the sundew, between the bushes of cranberry and wild rosemary, another predatory plant of our forests, the butterwort, is guarding its prey.
The sundew has white flowers, while the butterwort has violet-blue flowers. The butterwort does not have tentacle cilia. It catches insects with its sticky leaves. Mosquitoes and flies stick to them like sticky paper. However, the leaf also takes a more active part in the tragic pantomime that plays out among the marsh mosses. It slowly bends its edges and, pressing the victim, gradually moves it towards the center, where there is more digestive mucus.
Long before scientists discovered predators in the plant kingdom, the inhabitants of Lapland used butterwort leaves in their households instead of rennet, that is, veal stomach. Rennet is added to fresh milk to make cheese. The juices secreted by the butterwort cause milk to curdle, it turns out, no worse than the gastric juice of a calf!
Why, however, do these amazing carnivorous plants need animal food? Why can’t they be content with the substances that their roots extract from the earth and their leaves from the air?
Insectivorous plants usually grow along the banks of swamps, peat bogs, and on soils poor in nutrient salts. This is the reason for their unusual diet: predator plants replenish the nitrogen missing in the soil from the body juices of insects caught in ingenious traps.
Botanists first learned about insectivorous plants in the middle of the 17th century, when live flycatchers were brought to Europe from the island of Madagascar. These were plants with “jugs” with lids growing at the ends of their leaves. When the “jug”, developing from the leaf, “ripens”, the lid opens. Flies and ants, attracted by the “honey” with which the throat of the “jug” is lubricated, fall to the bottom of this wonderful trap and drown in the liquid that fills it. It is almost impossible to climb the steep, wax-smooth inner wall of the “jug.” But even if the unfortunate insect manages to do this at the cost of incredible efforts, then in the throat of the “jug” he is met by an impenetrable row of sharp teeth facing inward. The liquid that fills the traps of the jugs, like the digestive juice of the sundew, resembles gastric juice in its chemical composition. The caught insects are digested in it.
Another insectivorous plant, the dew leaf, which grows in Portugal and Morocco, deals with its victims differently. Its stem and leaves are covered, like dew, with sticky and sour drops. Flies and ants, having touched the “dewdrops”, become their captives. It is said that Portuguese peasants hang dew leaf instead of sticky paper on the windows of their huts. Pesky flies stick to it and die.
Rosolist does not grow in South Africa, but the inhabitants of this country have at their disposal another flycatcher plant - roridula. From a distance, the roridula bushes appear silvered: each leaf is covered with long white hairs. At the ends of the hairs, like on the eyelashes of a sundew, small sticky droplets tremble. The plant emits a strong aroma. Flies are attracted to this smell and stick to the leaves of the roridula.
But a strange thing: the roridula does not feed on caught flies: this plant needs them only as bait. Scientists recently found out that roridula is “friends” with... spiders. Spiders pollinate her flowers. To attract welcome guests, Roridula took care of a rich treat for them - a varied menu of flies, mosquitoes and midges. Spiders that visit free “canteen” roridula feed exclusively on insects stuck to its leaves. They have forgotten how to catch prey themselves. Crawling from plant to plant, eight-legged dependents thereby produce cross-pollination
Not all insectivorous plants are constructed, so to speak, according to the “sticky paper” principle. Among them there are dexterous flycatchers who grab flies with their leaves, just like with their hands! The American flycatcher's leaves have long teeth along the edges. As soon as you touch them, both halves of the sheet immediately fold along the midrib - as if a book is slamming shut! A leaf folded in half tightly, as if in a trap, holds the caught insect, which is immediately digested in a green prison.
Traps of tropical plant predators.
It is remarkable that in the leaves of insectivorous plants, as in the tissues of animals, biocurrents develop. If you close a flytrap sheet between the contacts of a galvanometer - a device for measuring electric current - the needle of the device will deflect: the device will register the current! A biocurrent of a positive sign flows from the base to the top of the leaf, and a negative one flows along the petiole. Studies have shown that sources of biocurrents are located in the upper layers of cells of the leaf blade and in the midrib. Each touch of a leaf causes a change in current voltage, which accompanies all phenomena of perception and transmission of excitation in the tissues of this amazing plant, as well as in the human body.