When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, he was only 50 and most of his publications lay ahead. The rest of his life can be seen as a one long research programme exploring the implications of his evolutionary ideas, and in particular their implications for one species - humans. He is most famous for showing that people are related to other animals, but he did much more than that: he showed that all animals, including us, are related to all other living things – to plants.
The story of Darwin’s discovery of carnivorous plants – plants that eat – and also of plants that sleep, and plants that move, has all the ingredients of a blockbuster: beauty, seduction, deceit, and mass murder – or 'tremendous slaughter' as Darwin called it. It also has chloroform, cobra poison, and a lot of curiosity. And it is in Darwin’s private letters and notebooks that the fun really happens.
