Poole explorer discovers rat-eating plant (From Bournemouth Echo)

Poole explorer discovers rat-eating plant

7:00pm Monday 17th August 2009

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A POOLE explorer has discovered amazing carnivorous plants capable of devouring rats.

Stewart McPherson, of Hamworthy-based Redfern Natural History, unearthed the giant pitcher plants in a remote mountain region in the central Philippines.

The incredible carnivorous species are so big they can catch rats in their pouches, as well as insects, dissolving them with enzymes in similar fashion to the action of Venus fly traps.

Stewart, a former Poole Grammar School student, also found giant centipedes and 10cm long spiders in the ‘bellies’ of the plants on the rugged mountain peak.

The exotic species has been christened Nepenthes attenboroughii after TV naturalist David Attenborough.

Nepenthes attenboroughii produces some of the largest, most voluminous and most beautiful traps of all known pitcher plants.

Stewart, 26, said: “It’s definitely not a joke. There’s 120 different species all around the world. This particular one was discovered as part of a survey to look at all of them.

“It’s one of the largest, there’s only one or two that are any bigger. It is big enough to catch rats.

“That one of the largest carnivorous plants had remained undiscovered until the 21st century is remarkable.”

Stewart and colleague Alastair Robinson began hunting for the flesh-eating flora on Mount Victoria after missionaries reported seeing such giant plants in 2000.

Among the other remarkable discoveries made during the 2007 expedition was another pitcher with huge traps last seen more than 100 years ago, and a sundew, which secretes sticky droplets from tentacles to kill insects. They also found bright blue mushrooms and pink ferns.

The findings of the two-month mission on the island of Palawan have only recently been published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

Stewart already has six new species of plant named after him, with a further 15 new species which remain unnamed to date.

The Poole adventurer, who studied geography at Durham University, has also spent time at Yale University in the USA and is currently working in Australia.

For more information go to redfernnaturalhistory.com.

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