Tiger Jaws

Image: Mike Keeling
Faucaria tigrina

You weren't planning on visiting the greenhouse were you?

Image: Mike Keeling

Because you shouldn't.

Tiger Jaws is a plant found in certain parts of South Africa. Mercifully, it only reaches about 15 cm (6 in) tall.

Image: Ernest McGray, Jr.

Despite appearances, it doesn't eat insects like the venus flytrap. It doesn't eat lizards, either. Neither does it nip mouthfuls of flesh from passing cattle. No horses have lost their feet to them.

Image: luckytomato
NOT caked in blood!

If you slipped and fell on a Tiger Jaws, you wouldn't find most of your liver gone.

Instead, that terrifying infinity of jaws within jaws is all about water collecting. In their dry habitat, water vapour condenses on those jaws and drips down into the roots below. Being a succulent, they then store the water in those thick leaves of theirs.

Video: schlonald

At the end of the year, if they get sufficient sunlight, the Tiger Jaws will open up a huge, yellow flower. It's about 5 cm (2 in) across, a third of the entire plant's height.

Image: Clare Snow

It's pretty! And the Tiger Jaws definitely won't eat your face if you take a closer look.

Image: Ernest McGray, Jr.

No. They most certainly won't do that.