A carnivorous pitcher plant that eats rats and insects has been discovered in the Philippines and named after Sir David Attenborough.
Rat-eating plant: The team of
botanists, led by British experts Stewart McPherson and Alastair
Robinson, found the plant on Mount Victoria in the Philippines.
The plant is among the largest of all pitchers and is believed to be the
largest meat-eating shrub, dissolving rats with acid-like enzymes.
The team of botanists, led by British experts Stewart McPherson and Alastair
Robinson, found the plant on Mount Victoria in the Philippines.
They were inspired to search for the plant after word that it is existed came
from two Christian missionaries who described seeing a large carnivorous
pitcher in 2000 after they climbed the mountain.
Mr McPherson, of Poole Dorset, said: "The plant produces spectacular
traps which catch not only insects, but also rodents. It is remarkable that
it remained undiscovered until the 21st century."
The team, which found the plant in 2007 following a two-month expedition,
published details of their discovery in the Botanical Journal of Linnean
Society earlier this year following a three-year study of all 120 species of
pitcher plant.
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