Tremble in fear, and behold this terrifying homicidal vegetable!
The larger denizens of Brazil may be unaware of the carnage beneath their feet, but trust me — the far more numerous inhabitants of the country, roundworms and such, feel nothing but terror at encountering their roots.
(via NatGeo)
(Also on Sb)
Eats, worms, with leaves.
Philcoxia, such a fun genus. Adn only described in 2000 to boot!
Nom nom nom!
Nematodes thinking that leaves underground is too stupid to believe–and then they’re lunch.
Barely having a brain doesn’t help. Nematodes are probably creationists.
Glen Davidson
I’m curious about the nitrogen marker used.
does it tag a specific protein?
can the marker be taken up by the roots of the plant if the nematode just dies and leaves nitrogen compounds in the soil (or waste products for that matter)?
meh, I guess the guy who wrote the article figured that part wasn’t terribly interesting, and the abstract gives no hint either.
I’m sure the full article documents the physical processes involved with capturing the nematodes on the leaf surfaces, but it appears to be behind a paywall.
*sigh*
Now I can’t recall where I just read about this. Pretty cool. They can have all the worms they want.
@Ichthyic
I’m willing to bet it was nitrogen-15.
What the report doesn’t say is that the plants have an underground (where else?) laboratory developing leaves that resemble $100 bills. They have bigger prey in mind!
I’m willing to bet it was nitrogen-15.
makes sense, as it’s stable and easily separated, but it does not address the issue of whether metabolic products the worms made after tagging could either be excreted and absorbed by the plant leaves, or else just absorbed as a byproduct of nematode death and decay in the soil itself. Of course, I’m probably just picking nits here, since “digestion” occurs outside of the plant anyway.
I dunno, I think I’m saying that proving that nitrogenous metabolic products from the worms is taken up by the plant is insufficient, in and of itself, to suggest the plant is actually predating on the worms.
as I said, I’d bet the article also details the physical mechanisms involved with trapping worms on leaf surfaces as a stronger support of the idea that they are indeed predating on the worms.
call it just something that picked at my brain.
Heh heh. Philcoxia
Heh.
Don’t orange trees summon nematodes to attack some critter that’s eating them? Or am I mixed up and it’s the nematodes that are the pest and orange trees summon something else to eat them? I can’t remember
Here’s a predatory fungus lassoing a nematode:
Wait, so Brazilians are being killed? It doesn’t look much like a Seymour.
I would expect that the plant is killing the worms and absorbing the needed nutrients from the decomposing worms in a similar way as other “carnivorous” plants, the amazing part is the underground leaf doing it.
life! so many variations the mind boggles
uncle frogy
Tremble in fear, and behold this terrifying homicidal vegetable!
It doesn’t kill people, so it’s more like a vermicidal one.
So there might not be a spaghetti plant but there is a vermicelli one!
Pretty picture of the evolution of a creationist
OT, From TPM:
… the actual audio of the interview is here.
The person-who-paid-some-attention-during-high-school-biology in me wants to think that pig or cow stemcells, or any cells, would taste pretty similar…. but the Atheist in me knows that without human stem cell its just not the same. Lets go and barbeque some babies, yay!
I want a law banning all state senators named Shortey from having unprotected sex with a porcupine on a ferris wheel. I did some, uhm, research on the Internet and there clearly is the potential. Now if this were happening this would clearly be a PR nightmare so when asked about this they will usually say “what the hell are you talking about, I try and be a decent person!” but I want the law just to be on the safe side. The thing is, when you start having unprotected sex with porcupines on ferris wheels who knows where it ends? You have already given up on the principle of Hystricomorpha consent so I really don`t want this to even be an option for any state senators named Shortey. You may think its ethical (and practical) to have sex with Hystricomorpha but the question we have to answer today, no in fact answer right now is: “do we want state senators named Shortey having unprotected sex with a porcupine on a ferris wheels”
I talked to all the amusement park security guards in Oklahoma and they all say they have seen some crazy stuff but they are not aware of anything like this ever happening, same goes for the society for the ethical treatment of rodents which says “we have nothing to do with this”…. but that wont stop me I want a law banning all state senators named Shortey from having unprotected sex with a porcupine on a ferris wheel!
*reads*
so…
we won’t actually be getting aborted fetus flavored products out of this research?
what good is it then?
;)
Odd, the plant resembles one that grows all over the Eastern Sierra / Great Basin interface in California/Nevada. The plant I’m thinking of is red, short, stalky, with no obvious leaves above ground. It’s primary habitat is “soil” that’s too undeveloped to grow anything more substantial. I wonder if they’re related?
wasd @ 17, I expect this bill will probably be shot down by Big Soylent.
By “roundworms” you mean Ascarids? Homicidal? This post is a little too cryptic, more details please. How about family, genus species? Don’t generate curiosity without any leads. Everyone knows about Pleurotus sp but this is new.