This is a notion that is often used in some films - a plant that sports tendrils or tentacles, much like the sundew species of plants. Once the victim approaches, these giant tendrils curl upon the victim, with sufficient strength to asphyxiate, alike to the motion of a boa constrictor.
The sundew and it’s ‘‘snap-tentacle’’ mechanism:
Lets assume that there exists a hypothetical tree or plant that possesses such leaves - would the release of tugor elasticity and hydraulics be sufficient to mimic the effects seen in such films?
I recall the Strand Magazine had some fiction on this sort of thing — it was the Nineties, and people ate this stuff up alive. The Purple Terror
Fred M. White Sept 1898.
Set in Cuba during the American invasion.
Typical illustrations ( but poorly transferred here ). Note the skeleton held aloft in the first; * like a monstrous spider*.
From googling for that, there’s a blog post regarding a man-killing tree in Madagascar, concluding it was an exaggeration of a smaller plant; and probably in New Guinea. Dr. Karl Shuker
I don’t think plants could possible exert that much power in such a short period. Venus Flytraps are about the top end.
Mind you certainly plants are capable of massive power, but it’s generally slow . The largest carnivorous plant is a Pitcher Plant type, capable of taking small rodents. True, it, the Nepenthes, does have a slow 'trap" mechanism, but it’s not a snap trap.
Perhaps there is truth to your assertions as drosera capensis is one of the larger species in the drosera genus, but it takes approximately thirty minutes to a couple of hours for its leaves to completely curl around its captured prey, whilst the smaller species can curl around prey almost instantaneously.
Most plant movements are accomplished by hydraulic changes. In rapid traps, hydraulics trigger some mechanical process that happens much more rapidly than hydraulics can accomplish. I could envision some kind of snap trap that enveloped its prey with resilient elastic fibers that then exerted sustained pressure on it.
While it might be unlikely, I wouldn’t automatically rule it out.
Turgor growth is utilized in venus flytraps. Drosera capensis uses a similar method, except instead of closing leaves, the leaves actually curl around the prey.
Willy Ley did a good article on Man Eating Plants ages ago. It’s collected in some anthologies of his work. There was a set of straight-faced articles about Man Eating Plants in Madagascar – all bogus, of course, but it convinced some people that these existed.
Aside from the mechanical difficulties, it’s hard to believe that a plant that survived by eating large animals could survive – they;d pretty quickly learn to avoid places where the plant thrives.
There are a group of individuals who I acknowledge that strongly assume that they are werewolves or that the notion of a human being transforming into a canid beast is possible. These individuals cite the werewolves of Poligny case as the '‘best evidence to support the existence of werewolves’’.
These individuals appear to have a short attention span. I understand that werewolves are indeed impossible - but how can I explain this to them in a manner that they shall understand? They are approximately fourteen to eighteen years of age, and it irks me to no end that mythological creatures are passed along as fact on several websites and within communities.
Apologies, I attempted to create a new thread, but was re-directed to this one. This is a browser memory issue of mine, so do ignore my previous post as I have created a separate thread.
