The German traveler Karl Liche, who visited Madagascar in 1881, allegedly witnessed the cruel ritual of local savages. They pushed the person intended as a sacrifice into the arms of an unusual tree about 2.5 m high and similar to a pineapple: leaves hung from its top to the ground, like open doors and equipped with sharp thorns.
Chase Osborne Expedition 1920
Lachey’s chilling and unlikely story led to the fact that exotic lovers began to send new expeditions in search of a man-eating tree. One of them, headed for Madagascar in 1920, was led by Governor Chase Osborne. This expedition traveled the island far and wide, but never found the man-eating tree.
Although the natives argued that such trees really exist. In October 1924, a report on this expedition appeared in the pages of the American press, and in January 1925, a note was published in the United States that a certain traveler W. Bryant found skeletons of people in the branches of an unknown tree on one of the Philippine Islands. The publications of this kind have caused indignation of botanists. They are well aware of various carnivorous plants, but they are able to feed only on small insects, and certainly not on large animals, or even more so on people.
10 thousand dollars prize for truth
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In order to put an end to the discussion between botanists and travelers (and the latter are sometimes great masters of lying), the scientific journal "American Botanics" announced a prize of 10 thousand dollars (a huge sum at that time!) To anyone who presents a specimen of a man-eating tree. The desire to earn such a lot of money prompted the British retired officer L. Hirst in 1935 to undertake an independent trip to Madagascar.
The disappearance of L. Hirst
There, in wanderings, he spent about four months, he did not find man-eating trees, but he allegedly discovered some new carnivorous plant capable of eating not only insects, but also small rodents. Hirst photographed it and drew attention to the fact that its foot is surrounded by the skeletons of large animals. But botanists did not believe these photographs and accused Hirst of cheating: they say, for the sake of sensation, he himself decomposed the bones of large animals around the plant. The extremely offended officer again went on an expedition to Madagascar for additional evidence. Only after that no one else heard anything about him … Maybe. did he find a man-eating tree, and it ate it?
Ivan McKerl's expedition
The Czech researcher and writer Ivan Makkerl has already become interested in the problem. Together with several friends, he went all to the same Madagascar, deciding to repeat Hirst's route, but did not find his tracks. At the same time, he found several new species of carnivorous plants, shaped like jugs; not only insects, but even small animals like rodents and lizards, fall into them, but cannot get out back, since the inner walls of these jugs are very slippery. It all ends with the fact that the animals are, as it were, digested by the plant, and their tissues serve as food for it.
Tree with claws
However, in the southern part of the island, researchers have found plants that can threaten large animals and even humans. The aborigines gave one of them the name "tree with claws": its long elastic branches, hanging down to the ground, end in capsules with seeds and are equipped with sharp hooks. The wind shakes these branches, and they can cling to a gape of an animal or person. The victims try to free themselves from the tenacious fetters, while the plant hangs capsules with seeds on their skin or clothes, like a burdock. Thus, the seeds are spread throughout the forest - if, of course, the victim manages to break free. But the "tree with claws" does not feed on the bodies of the victims. Still, the travelers hoped to see at least one specimen of the man-eating tree. The natives flatly refused to show them this "devil's tree", saying thatthat it kills animals and people from a distance.
Forest killer kumanga
Finally, one of the local residents agreed to become a guide for a substantial fee. In the local dialect, the forest killer is called "kumanga". As McKerl assures, this tree kills its victims with poisonous fumes, which are especially dangerous during flowering. At this time, the birds perching on the branches immediately fall dead; animals also die, trying to hide under the kumanga from the scorching heat (how can we not recall Pushkin's "Anchar"?). But the kumanga does not eat its victims: apparently, the poisonous fumes serve it simply as a means of "chemical defense", and not an attack. The man-eating tree is still a legend, composed by Karl Liche with a claim to authenticity. It is better to believe Herbert Wells, who described in 1895 (14 years after the Cliché) in the story "Strange Orchid" a bloodsucking plant … But maybein some little-explored corners of our planet (like the Amazon jungle) do cannibal trees still live?