Archivist note: This article is from an older recovered archive and might be obsolete or in need of updating.
Most recent revision is shown below, by Myrtil.
New Babbage’s National Flower is the Chymifying Snatchroot (Snatchitae digestivus).
See the picture for the legend.
Snatchitae digestivus is a two to three feet high carnivorous plant, indigenous to the New Babbage area.
Being a plant in New Babbage is a rarity in itself, but it would seem that the Chymifying Snatchroot survives in New Babbage thanks to its lack of photosynthesis needs and the addition of nutriments to its menu.
It features four snatching tentacles (3) covered in vegetal glue hair (4) that lay flat on the ground all around its base.
When a prey steps on a tentacle, the powerful glue keeps it stuck there and the snatching tentacle reacts by wrapping itself around the prey (usually rodents) and bringing it towards the pitcher (5), where it unloads it.
The tentacles then roll themselves up to avoid catching another prey.
The hat (9) then shuts down and the prey falls directly into the primary stomach (6), thanks to the very slippery inner walls of the digestive tract (7). The valve (8) that separates the digestive tract from the primary stomach then closes and the digestive enzymes start mollifying the prey inside the primary stomach.
When the prey starts to fall apart, pieces are sent into the four secondary stomachs (10), where the digestion can slowly continue.
This system allows the primary stomach to become available quickly for the next prey.
When the primary stomach is completely empty, the valve and the hat open again, and the tentacles deploy themselves all around the snatchroot.
