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In March 2019, images of a plant dubbed a penis flytrap — a play on words that evokes the comparatively less phallic Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) — went viral. These posts all described the plant as belonging to the Nepenthes genus. Though the provenance of the image shown above is uncertain, we have no reason to doubt this is an authentic photograph of a plant that belonging to the Nepenthes genus. We emailed Clinton Morse, the living plant collections manager at the University of Connecticut’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, to ask about the photograph, and he told us: Indeed, once the pit trap is fully matured and the lid is opened, the plant becomes a bit less penile-looking. The open trap fills with water and is designed to attract insects who then fall into the water, where the plant scavenges the nutrients in the decaying bodies, as described in a 1999 review of the genus’ carnivorous behavior: Because the picture and its description ring true with experts and published scientific studies, we rank the image of this penis fly trap to be authentic.
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