Please don't pluck 'Penis plant', it will die, Cambodian government urges

PHNOM PENH: Nature is appealing, and as a natural result, it is tempting, so tempting, that the Cambodian government had to urge people stop plucking the 'endangered' '

Penis Plant

' after some women were found having a hand at the unique species.

Nepenthis holdenii

is a tropical pitcher plant commonly found in the mountainous regions of western

Cambodia

which is now at the risk of extinction with locals and tourists picking the plant in order to take selfies with it, New York Post reported.

Due to the plant's 'suspicious' resemblance to an erect penis, it has been dubbed as the 'penis plant'.

After a video of some women picking the "penis plant" went viral on social media, the Cambodian government has issued a stern statement asking 'curious' folks to leave the endangered penis plant in the ground where it belongs.

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"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 and Natural Resources said in its statement.

In the viral video which prompted the call-out from the Cambodian government, three women are seen unearthing several of the endangered flowers for online clout. The video was reportedly filmed on Bokor Mountain in Kampot province of Cambodia.

One woman is subsequently seen smiling as she holds two of the phallic objects in her hands while cooing for the camera.

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

The imposing plant -- which looks like an erect penis -- flowered at the Hortus Botanicus in the Netherlands, with excited crowds flocking there to take in the phallic phenomenon.