Here is the aquatic carnivorous plant named the "humped bladderwort"!

You're welcome.

Please to enjoy this South Korean children's book

[standing ovation!]

The Monkey and the Apple Tree was presented by heyorpheus.

Let's go to the beach!

On second thought, we can go, but stay OUT of the water. After all, this Chinese beach in Quindao is suffering an explosion of algae growth. When that happens, a thick green covering blankets the—

Hey! I said stay out of the water!

Photographs and story

 from National Geographic.

Three things for the Fourth of July

1.) The surface of a road is not spelled "assfault".

2.) In China, the slang for rectum is pih-ko. This translates to "mouth-fart".

3.) A sewage plant is not a plant that smells terrible.

That's one big Corpse Flower!

You may wonder why the Corpse Flower is called the Corpse Flower. I’ll tell you: It’s because it smells like a rotting body.

And since the bloom can be over nine-feet tall, it’s the rotting body of a giant!  

Hey, since it’s so big and has since an appropriate smell, I wonder why the Corpse Flower isn’t a popular flower at funerals?

Oh well. Embrace the mystery!

Photo from the Telegraph.

"Hey look, that plant has…EYES?!”

I have a suggestion: Don’t ever get close to any plant called the Baneberry. ("Bane" means a cause of great trouble.) And if the plant's other nickname is “Dolls’ eyes”, the same rule applies.

From here.

But just because this plant (known as Actaea pachypoda) looks like a nightmare, is it really so bad? Hey, maybe those dolls’ eyes are tasty. They could be like yogurt-covered eyeballs!

Let’s see, its Wikipedia page says, “Ingestion of the berries can lead to cardiac arrest and death.”

Never mind.

Garden Toilet!

I don't know about you, but parsley helps give me good breath. So when I need some, I just pluck it from the toilet bowl.

Photo by John E. Robertson.

What's Huge, Pretty, and Smells Like a Corpse?

The Rafflesia arnoldii is the biggest flower in the world!

So it’s really too bad that it smells almost exactly like a rotting body. In fact, this flower stinks so much, the Rafflesia arnoldii is nicknamed the “corpse flower.”

Another weird about this rare flower is that it has no leaves, roots, or stem. It just blossoms through the decaying root of trees. Then it grows as large as three feet wide, and starts stinking up the joint!

Look (or smell!) for it next time you’re hiking in the islands of southeast Asia.

Photos from here and here.

Beware the Alien Fingers!

I was at the grocery store yesterday, minding my own business in the produce section.

"Oh, look, the carrots are nice. These bananas don't look quite ripe, and as for the apples— HOLY TOLEDO, what is THAT?!"

Yes, apparently aliens had dropped off miniature versions of themselves right next to the broccoli! My screams could be heard all the way over in the dairy section, and grocery clerks came running, while children and grown men fled the store in terror!

One clerk went out to assure the customers that everything was okay. And another one explained to me that the tentacled "aliens" I saw were actually a fruit called Buddha's hand.

I guess people like it because Buddha's hand smells really good.

Huh!

Well, even if I was wrong, I don't want to smell anyone's fingers... even Buddha's!

(BTW, this fruit is also nicknamed "Goblins' fingers," so I'm still a little suspicious of it.)