New carnivorous plant discovered
August 14, 2009
AMSTERDAM - British researchers in the Philippines discovered a carnivorous plant, capable of small mammals to absorb and digest.
The botanists Stewart McPherson, Alastair Robinson and Volker Heinrich came on the still unknown nepenthe on a mountain in the Philippine highlands at about 1600 meters above sea level.
The cup-shaped leaves of the carnivorous plant species according to the researchers so great that in small mammals can become entangled. The plant can then feed on the meat.
The carnivorous plant is named after the British nature documentary maker David Attenborough. The official name of the new Nepenthes species attenboroughii, reports the BBC.
Major events
The researchers have published details of their discovery in the scientific journal Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
"When we took the plant, it was us that it is not a known type of presentation," says McPherson. "This plant belongs to the largest of all carnivorous plants. The plant produces huge traps that not only insects in captivity, but also mammals such as rats. "
Isolated
The Nepenthes attenboroughii grows according to scientists not in large numbers in the area. But they hope that the remote location where the plant can protect humans.
Sources: www.nu.nl
StarPeople
August 14, 2009
AMSTERDAM - British researchers in the Philippines discovered a carnivorous plant, capable of small mammals to absorb and digest.
The botanists Stewart McPherson, Alastair Robinson and Volker Heinrich came on the still unknown nepenthe on a mountain in the Philippine highlands at about 1600 meters above sea level.
The cup-shaped leaves of the carnivorous plant species according to the researchers so great that in small mammals can become entangled. The plant can then feed on the meat.
The carnivorous plant is named after the British nature documentary maker David Attenborough. The official name of the new Nepenthes species attenboroughii, reports the BBC.
Major events
The researchers have published details of their discovery in the scientific journal Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
"When we took the plant, it was us that it is not a known type of presentation," says McPherson. "This plant belongs to the largest of all carnivorous plants. The plant produces huge traps that not only insects in captivity, but also mammals such as rats. "
Isolated
The Nepenthes attenboroughii grows according to scientists not in large numbers in the area. But they hope that the remote location where the plant can protect humans.
Sources: www.nu.nl
StarPeople