Man-Eating Tree of Mindanao

The Man-Eating Tree of Mindanao is the appellation for a cryptobotanical carnivorous plant that was reported to exist on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, the subject of two similar accounts: the first, a 1925 story in American Weekly, the report of W.C. Bryant, a Mississippian planter; and the second, a 1927 newspaper story by Muriel E. Eddy relating perilous encounter of Mrs. Leoda Eddison and Sambino, her Moro guide, with the "death-dealing cannibal tree."

Dramatis Personae

• W. C. Bryant, a Mississippian planter;
• Mrs. Leoda Eddison, a widowed explorer;
• Sambino, a Moro guide;
• Muriel E. Eddy, writer and memoirist of H. P. Lovecraft.

The Reports

• "Escaped From the Embrace of the Man-Eating Tree", American Weekly (Hearst), 1925-01-04 
• Clute, Willard N. (Apr. 1925), "Man-Eating Trees", American Botanist 31: 70-73 
• Eddy, Muriel E. (1927-12-25), "Trapped in Devil-Tree Tentacles Woman Narrowly Escapes Death", Abilene Reporter-News: 38, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30916488/