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History Channel: Incans domesticated carnivorous tubers

Watch the beginning of this clip from the History Channel:


They mention it at 1:00.

What "carnivorous" tuber plants are they talking about?
 
Potatoes, google carnivorous potatoes
 
Wow, that is really interesting. They certainly don't go too far into it. . .

I can't imagine what they are talking about though. It would be news to me to hear that indigenous potatoes have carnivorous relatives.
 
Potatoes: the vegetable that eats you back!
 
So I'm not the only one who was wondering after watching that documentary :p

After looking into it, it seems that they were referring to carnivorous in the sense that petunias are "carnivorous" - insects sometimes get stuck on the slightly sticky leaves, die, and fall to the ground.
 
Not super surprising if some species potatoes are or were carnivorous. Carnivory has been documented in tomatoes which, along with potatoes are part of the Nightshade family.
 
I don't know if it's been officially looked into, but from personal observation I would include tobacco in this class of carnivores. Also a nightshade.....
 
I don't know if it's been officially looked into, but from personal observation I would include tobacco in this class of carnivores. Also a nightshade.....

I certainly don't think it's out of the realm of reason.
 
I had heard that about tomatoes, think there's a pretty big difference from catching and killing bugs on sticky hairs and catching and digesting bugs, tis all interesting stuff though
 
  • #10
That's why you have to keep the potatoes and the beef separate with the veggies.
 
  • #12
Carnivory has been documented in tomatoes which, along with potatoes are part of the Nightshade family.


In the sense that bugs die on the stems and fall to the ground as with petunias or do they actually produce enzymes to extract nutrients from the insects?
 
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  • #13
Does this help?

The Telegraph November 14th 2015

Tomatoes can 'eat' insects

Garden vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes have been found to be deadly killers on a par with Venus fly traps, according to research.

Botanists have discovered for the first time that the plants are carnivorous predators who kill insects in order to "self-fertilise" themselves.
New research shows that they capture and kill small insects with sticky hairs on their stems and then absorb nutrients through their roots when the animals decay and fall to the ground.
It is thought that the technique was developed in the wild in order to supplement the nutrients in poor quality soil – but even domestic varieties grown in your vegetable patch retain the ability.
The killer plants have been identified as among a host of species that are thought to have been overlooked by botanists and explorers searching the world’s remotest regions for carnivorous species.
The number of carnivorous plants is thought to have been underestimated by up to 50 per cent and many of them have until now been regarded as among the most benign of plants.
Among them are species of petunia, ornamental tobacco plants, some varieties of potatoes and tomatoes, and shepherd’s purse, a relative of cabbages.
Researchers at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, which carried out the study, now believe there are hundreds more killer plants than previously realised.
Professor Mark Chase, of Kew and Queen Mary, University of London, said: “The cultivated tomatoes and potatoes still have the hairs. Tomatoes in particular are covered with these sticky hairs. They do trap small insects on a regular basis. They do kill insects.
“We suspect in the domesticated varieties they are getting plenty of food through the roots from us so don’t get much benefit from trapping insects. In the wild they could be functioning in the way that could properly be considered carnivorous.”
The study said it is likely that the meat-eating qualities of many plants has gone unrecognised because they are missing some of the prime characteristics associated with carnivorous species.
The researchers, publishing their finding in the ‘Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society’, said: “We may be surrounded by many more murderous plants than we think.
“We are accustomed to think of plants as being immobile and harmless, and there is something deeply unnerving about the thought of carnivorous plants," they added.
 
  • #15
Thanks, Fred!

So not enzyme producing as in what are typically considered "true" carnivorous plants. Wonder if it truly evolved in this case as a means of supplementing nutrient poor soils or instead as a means of defense that happened to have a side benefit of increasing available nutrients. Never noticed my father's toms catching that many bugs. Be interesting to know if the wild precursors catch significantly more.
 
  • #16
At least they're killing insects unlike some Nepenthes which are just compost bins or cesspits. :p
 
  • #17
At least they're killing insects unlike some Nepenthes which are just compost bins or cesspits. :p

Hey, that's somebody's house you are talking about.

MDT_BR_C3_0233-Edit.jpg
 
  • #18
Now that's cute :-O Everyone should have one
 
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