# Origin of Man-Eating Jungle Plant cliche? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-man-eating-jungle-plant-cliche/328062 "2005-10-26T21:11:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-man-eating-jungle-plant-cliche/328062/1 "2005-10-26T21:11:33Z")
You know, the plant that’s like a giant Venus Flytrap, only it has prehensile vines like tentacles to drag prey in to their doom. This has become a ubiquitious Jumanji-like cliche of the jungle. Only where did it originate? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-man-eating-jungle-plant-cliche/328062/2 "2005-10-26T21:19:29Z")
I don’t know of a specific first reference, so this is probably not the answer you’re seeking. But the 19th century was a time of great exploration by, especially, British colonial explorers. As a result, there was a fashion for exotic in Victorian England: conservatories with tropical plants were de rigeur; aquarium keeping was a huge rage (if something of a primitive science). Even native people–individuals–like “hottentots” and American Indians–were imported and exhibited as curiosities. There was just an overwhelming sense of a neverending supply of “Believe It or Not” type specimens and discoveries. I would imagine that, during that time, such exotic ideas as a man eating plant was just the kind of idea that would have fascinated people, and would’ve sounded all too plausible in light of the other discoveries that were constantly being made. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-man-eating-jungle-plant-cliche/328062/3 "2005-10-27T02:18:26Z")
I remember a 19th century science fiction story about such a plant. (Though it wasn’t called “science fiction” then; I get it would be a “scientific romance”.) I think it was in a great collection called _Science Fiction by Gaslight_. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-man-eating-jungle-plant-cliche/328062/4 "2005-10-27T03:14:34Z")
It seems that it originated from an Australian article in the 19th century: [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/madagascar/mail/mail20000522.html](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/madagascar/mail/mail20000522.html) > [@](#): > > Question: > What are the man-eating trees–species or common name? > > (name withheld by request) > Response from Peter Tyson, NOVA Online Producer: > > The man-eating tree does not have a scientific name. Despite its legendary status, the man-eating tree of Madagascar appears to be a fiction. Since its first description in the South Australian Register of 1881, no one has ever laid eyes on it, and most believe that the original story was a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-man-eating-jungle-plant-cliche/328062/5 "2005-10-27T03:21:05Z")
Don’t suppose the [corpse flower](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/07/0718_030718_stinkyflower.html) could have inspired such tales? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-man-eating-jungle-plant-cliche/328062/6 "2005-10-27T19:08:35Z")
Abraham E. Merritt - The Moon Pool - There is a fungus that bellows a cloud of spores and in a few seconds the animal is a fungus colony. Abraham E. Merritt - Dwellers in the Mirage - The jungle has a vine that moves and eats animals. H.G. Wells - The Flowering Of The Strange Orchid – Closest match is ]An orchid is growing that drugs you and drains your blood. Edgar Rice Burroughs - The Gods of Mars - The plant men can walk around. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-man-eating-jungle-plant-cliche/328062/7 "2005-10-27T19:14:32Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > It seems that it originated from an Australian article in the 19th century: > > [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/madagascar/mail/mail20000522.html](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/madagascar/mail/mail20000522.html) The Aboriginals of Australia put honored dead on or in a tree and covered the body with bark tied with vines. I’ll bet that’s what inspired that story. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-man-eating-jungle-plant-cliche/328062/8 "2005-10-27T20:42:26Z")
Carnivorous plants were featured in the movies: The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954), Voodoo Island (1957), The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Konga (1961), The Day of the Triffids (1963), Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966), Island of the Doomed (1967), Brides of Blood (1968), The Lost Continent (1968).