20 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 
this Devil’s-snare which stirs in the imaginative 
mind vague, unnameable dread. If this be possible 
with one plant already known to exist, where is 
the hindrance to the attainment of similar or 
greater power by the number of other carnivorous 
plants, which already show by their habits traits so 
cruel, so cunning, so avaricious, as to cause a shud- 
der of horror to one observing them even in their 
present diminutive form. 
There is another plant, a parasitical native of 
Sumatra, whose flower already has attained propor- 
tions that would, were it carnivorous in its habits, 
render it a thing to be avoided by human beings 
and animals for fear of their lives. This is the 
ponderous Arnoldi, the flower of which is described 
by Dr. Arnold, its discoverer, as measuring “a full 
yard across,” the bowl for nectar being large 
enough to hold twelve pints, and the weight of a 
single blossom being about fifteen pounds. Disas- 
trous indeed might be the results if such a giant 
plant were to develop, like the sundews and pitcher- 
plants, a taste for meat! 
