Stop Plucking 'Penis Plant', Says Cambodian Government

Phnom Penh: A video showing three women plucking a carnivorous plant which looks similar to a male genital went viral after which the Cambodian government issued a stern warning to the public by asking them to refrain from doing such activities over fears that it might become extinct.

Nepenthis holdenii, which has been dubbed as 'penis plant', is commonly found in the mountainous region of western Cambodia.

The plants survive in low-nutrient soil by supplementing their diet with live insects and they use their nectar and a sweet scent to entice their prey.

"What they are doing is wrong and do not do it again in the future! Thank you for loving natural resources, but do not pick, (or) they will be ruined!", Cambodia's Ministry of Environment said via a Facebook post.

In the viral video, three women can be seen plucking the endangered flowers in Bokor Mountain in the Kampot province of Cambodia.

The frisky-looking flora has been plucked by the locals and tourists from the ground at an increased rate in recent years and they then click selfies on social media.

The natural habitats of carnivorous pitcher plants have decreased in Cambodia due to agricultural expansion on private lands and the growth of the tourism industry into protected areas, the Science Daily reported citing a 2021 study in the Cambodian Journal of Natural History.

Environmentalists warned that while the phallic appearance of the plants is "fun", picking them could jeopardize their survival.

It is worth noting that a six-and-a-half-foot-tall plant known as the amorphophallus decus-silvae "penis plant" bloomed in Europe last October for the first time in almost 25 years.

The plant resembles an erect penis flowered at the Hortus Botanicus in the Netherlands, with excited crowds flocking there to catch a glimpse of the phallic phenomenon.

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