A South American plant which is believed to kill animals is about to bloom in England. The plant is called Puya chilensis and was planted in a greenhouse in Surrey 15 years ago. The plant is know to kill animals with its spikes and use their bodies as fertilizer.
Yahoo News reported that The Royal Horticultural Society in Wisley has been feeding the plant liquid fertilizer.
In its natural habitat in the Andes it uses its razor sharp spines to snare and trap sheep and other animals, which slowly starve to death and decay at the base of the plant, providing it with the grizzly equivalent of a bag of fertiliser,"says the RHS website.
The plant blooms in Chile naturally and this is the first time in more than a decade that the plant has bloomed with the RHS' efforts.
"We keep it well fed with liquid fertiliser as feeding it on its natural diet might prove a bit problematic,"h orticulturalist Cara Smith said in a press release on the RHS site."It's growing in the arid section of our glasshouse with its deadly spines well out of reach of both children and sheep alike."
The BBC reported that the plant is in The National Botanic Garden of Wales. The plant has bright green and yellow flowers on tall spikes about spines that are razor sharp.
"Regardless of whether it actually traps sheep, the plant does have sharp spikes that can grow up to 12 feet high and 5 feet wide. However, it's not all death and danger for this plant. Its flowery blooms reportedly provide nectar for bees and birds," reported Yahoo News.
Smith added according to the Huffington Post, "[P]arents coming along with small children [to see the flower] don't need to worry about the plant devouring their little ones. It's growing in the arid section of our Glasshouse with its deadly spines well out of reach of both children and sheep alike."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
