Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-10-11
THE TIMPIRE OF PL 1NTS.
MIR. Dunstan's Remarkable story of q
Misunderstanding Vine.

Blood-Sucking Vine.
Leroy Dunstan, the well-known nat
uralist of New Orleans, who has re-
Gently returned from Central America.
where he had spent nearly two years in
the study of the flora and fauna of the
country, relates the finding of asingular
growth in one of the swamps about the
great lake of Nicaragua.
He was engaged i'll hunting for botan-
ical and chronological specimens in this
swamp, which is known as San Sebas-
tian's, when he heard his dog cry out as
if in agony from a distance. Running
to the spot from which the animals cries
came, Mr.. Dunstan found him enveloped
in perfect network of what seemed tc
be a fine rope-like tissue of roots or flores,
the nature of which was unknown to
him.
The plant or vine seemed composed
entirely of bare, interIacing stems, re-
sembling more than anything else the
branches of the weeping willow denuded
of all foliage, but of dark, nearly black
hue, and covered with thick, viscid
gum that exuded from the pores. Draw
ing his knife, Mr.. Dunstan endeavored
to cut the animal free, but it was only
with the greatest difficulty that he sue
ceeded in severing the tleshy, muscular
fibre. To his horror and amazement the
naturalist then saw that the dogs body
was covered with blood, while his hair
less skin appeared to have been actually
sucked or pricked in spots, and the ami
NAL staggered as if from weakness and
exhaustion.
In cutting the vine the twigs curled
like living, sinuous fingers about Mr..
Dunstan's hand, and it required no slight
force to free the member from its cling
ing clasp, which left the flesh red and
blistered. The gum eXuding from the
vine was of grayish dark tinge, re-
markedly adhesive and of a disagreeable
animal odor, very powerful and nauseat-
ing to inhale.
The native servants who accompanied
Mr.. Dunstan manifested the greatest
horror of the vine, which they call la sa
genas de diable, the devils seine, o
snare, and were full of stories of its death
dealing powers
One of these stories was of an Eng
lishman residing in Managua, who, while
hunting in the swamp few years ago.
lay down beneath a tree where a large
and powerful specimen of this singular
plant was growing, and. inadvertently
falling asleep, awoke to find himself en-
veloped in its web, and, in spite of every
effort made to extricate him, perished ir.
its deathly embrace.
Another story was of an escaped con-
vict who had hidden in the swamp, whose
bones had been found in the folds of the
sagenas only short time before Mr.. Dun
STAINS visit The stories, remarkable as
they seem, are firmly believed in by the
people, but the only three specimens
which Mr.. Dunstan was able to find were
all small ones, though the meshes of the
largest would probably, if extended in a
straight line, measure nearly, if not
quite, 100 feet. He was able to discover
very little about the nature of the plant,
owing to the difficulty of handling it,
for its grasp can only be torn away with
loss of skin and even of flesh, but, SO
near as Mr. Dunstan could ascertain its
power of suction is contained in num-
Der of infinitessimal mouths little suck
ers, which, ordinarily closed, open for
the reception of food.
The gum exuded seems to serve the
twofuld purpose of increasing its tenac-
ity and of grooming victim by its
sickening odor. The plant is found only
in low, wet places, and usually beneath
large tree, and while dormant seems
only network of dry, dead vines COW
ering the black earth for several feet, but
coming into contact with anything will
instantly begin to twist and Irvine up
ward in horrible, llfelike manner,
breaking out with the gum-like substance
spoken of before, and enwrap the object
with a celebrity almost incredible.
If the substance is animal the blood is
drawn off and the carcass or refuse then
dropped A lump of raw meat being
thrown it, in the short time of five min
utes the blood will be thoroughly drunk
off and the mass thrown aside. Its vo-
racity is almost beyo nd belief, it devour-
ing at one time over ten pounds of
meat though it may be deprived of all
food for weeks without any apparent loss
of vitality. Mr. Dunstan attempted to
bring away root of the sagenas, but it
died during his return voyage, growing
ing so foul with a strong odor of real
animal corruption that he was obliged to
get rid of it.