94 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 
proboscidea, which has two backward-curving 
horns, from one and one-half to three inches long, 
strikingly like miniature buffalo horns. These are 
very tough and hard, and the two grapples curve 
in toward their base, forming a half-completed 
circle, which is peculiarly adapted to catching on 
to the feet of cattle, sheep, and goats, and occa- 
sionally hogs. This strange plant is often referred 
to in writings as the unicorn-plant. It is largely 
cultivated for its fruit in many parts of the coun- 
try, but in some places it is a very unwelcome 
guest. 
Of all horrible, uncanny, and fiendishly wicked 
plants, the South African grapple-plant has no 
rival. The very thought of its diabolical ways is 
enough to make one shudder. It is worse than 
the Murderer Liana that strangles its victim to 
death; and it uses the same unscrupulous tyranny 
and injustice that we might expect to find among 
the lowest and most uncivilised savages. Nearly 
all African travellers have mentioned its murderous 
habits; Dr. Livingstone says: “It has so many 
hooked thorns as to cling most tenaciously to any 
animal to which it may become attached. When 
it happens to lay hold of the mouth of an ox, the 
animal stands and roars with a sense of pain and 
helplessness. The fruits when dry are hard and 
