Episode Information

Unveiling a world of deceit and treachery worthy of any fictional thriller: ‘Plants behaving badly’. Two groups of plants exhibit such intriguing behaviour that a century and a half ago they attracted the attention of Charles Darwin. These same plants, orchids and their carnivorous relatives, still fascinate scientists today. Darwin’s book ‘On the Origin of Species’ shook the scientific world and far beyond. Yet it was his next book, devoted entirely to orchids, which filled in crucial gaps and clarified his revolutionary ideas. 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. But it’s not only about the orchids: scientists have recently shown that there are many more carnivorous plants than we ever thought existed. Welcome to the world of killer tomatoes and murderous potatoes! Even the more well-known carnivorous plants – sundews, flytraps and pitchers – are revealing new behaviour. Carnivorous plants have featured in many sci-fi films over the years, but the reality turns out to be far stranger than the fiction. Narrated by David Attenenborough