Insect-killing plant found by Australian road new to science

摘要

A NEWLY described species of wild tobacco that scientists found growing next to a highway truck stop in Western Australia is covered in sticky glands that trap and kill insects, including gnats and flies. While a range of carnivorous plants are known across the plant kingdom, this is the first wild tobacco plant discovered to kill insects. Dubbed Nicotiana insecticida, it was uncovered by a project looking for Nicotiana species across Australia. The team, which included Mark Chase of London's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, collected seeds from the plant at a truck stop on the North West Coastal Highway. They then cultivated them at Kew, where the plants went on to develop the same sticky glandular hairs and to kill insects inside the greenhouses (Curtis's Botanical Magazine, doi.org/gq9m).