Plants Behaving Badly

Scientists have recently shown that many more plants are carnivorous than we had ever thought. Welcome to the world of killer tomatoes and murderous potatoes. Even the more well-known carnivorous plants – sundews, flytraps and pitchers – are revealing new behavior.

Orchids have an ethereal beauty, whether growing hundreds of feet up in a misty rainforest or along the verges of busy suburban roads. But their exotic flowers are shaped for just one purpose – to seduce pollinators. Many use sex as a lure by impersonating a female bee or wasp.