strange "flowers"
 

A couple years ago I watched a Discovery Channel documentary that
described (and depicted) some kind of anthropomorphic flower/bud/seed
pod things that were in the possession of a monk in Thailand (I think)

These thing were creepy, very like a dessicated fetus or something, I
had found a website dedicated to them but for the life of me I cannot
find it again...

Anyone have any idea what these critters were called and where I might
find some images, etc?

Thanks in advance !

=Mike 0=

strange "flowers"
 

In article ,
[Meepus] wrote...

A couple years ago I watched a Discovery Channel documentary that
described (and depicted) some kind of anthropomorphic flower/bud/seed
pod things that were in the possession of a monk in Thailand (I think)

These thing were creepy, very like a dessicated fetus or something, I
had found a website dedicated to them but for the life of me I cannot
find it again...

Anyone have any idea what these critters were called and where I might
find some images, etc?

Thanks in advance !

Possibly the "Scythian lamb"? It's the dried stem of a big
fern, Cibotium barometz, from Southeast Asia, that has been
trimmed so as to resemble an animal. [The stem is wooly/hairy,
and the remains of the leaf stalks can resemble legs. Supposedly
they'd carve a face on the dried stump] As I recall, the dried
plants were sometimes exported, or were sold to European travellers,
and so entered early European folklore & herbals as being a rare
critter that was half plant, half animal [drawn as a sheep rooted
to one spot by a stalk from its belly].

There's no such animal, it's just creative folk art made with a
trimmed tree fern stem.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/darwincentre/phase2/6_veglamb.html
[has pic, showing wooly body and leaf-stalk legs]

http://www.antiquariaatjunk.com/php/....php3?bnr=6718
[has old plate showing drawing of the vegetable lamb]

http://members.aol.com/arbexhibit/fabulousbeasts.htm
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoaxmuseums.html
http://www.duneroller.com/content/my...able_lambs.htm

cheers