Rare sheep-eating plant blooms outdoors in Surrey for first time after being planted 10 years ago

A rare "sheep-eating" plant has flowered for the first time since it was planted outdoors in Surrey around 10 years ago.

The Puya Chilensis, which is usually found in the Andes region in Chile, sent up a three-metre spike of bright flowers at the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) garden in Surrey.

The plant is dubbed to be a "sheep-eating" plant due to its deadly features.

Matthew Pottage, curator at RHS Wisley, noted that there's no physical chewing up of sheep.

"In their native environment they form huge big hummocks of these big thorny leaves.

"So any grazing animal nearby, could be a sheep because they've obviously got a lot of fur, goes in for shelter and shade from sun and then has the ability to basically get stuck.

"They've got all these big backwards facing barbs so anything that's stuck in there, stays there, decomposes, but then feeds and fertilizes the plant."