Man-eating plant
Depiction of a man being consumed by a Yateveo ("I see you") carnivorous tree found in both Africa and Central America, from Sea and Land by J. W. Buel, 1887 | |
| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Region | Africa and Central America |
| Details | Lives in African and Central-American forests |
A man-eating plant is a fictional form of carnivorous plant large enough to kill and consume a human or other large animal. The notion of man-eating plants came about in the late 19th century, as the existence of real-life carnivorous and moving plants, described by Charles Darwin in Insectivorous Plants (1875), and The Power of Movement in Plants (1880), largely came as a shock to the general population, who believed it was impossible for plants to consume animals or move under their own power. Authors began to exaggerate these abilities for dramatic effect, causing the proliferation of fiction about such plants.