D&D Monster: The Viper Vine
Viper vines are found in both temperate and tropical rainforests, often where the dark canopy and massive trees have lowered the nutrition present in the soil. Thus, plants must find their own food. The viper vines solution to this was to evolve, not only into a carnivorous species, but an active hunter, mimicking the highly successful venomous snakes of the same environment. Viper vines are rarely found alone, and tend to cluster in colonies of 5 or 6...or sometimes, where prey is plentiful, several hundred. A viper vine resembles nothing more than a slim vine, 10 or 15 feet long, either coiled on the ground like deadfall, or hanging by its tail from a tree. Either way, when it senses prey within its perception radius, it moves swiftly and strikes, turning the unfortunate creature into food for the colony...either immediately, because it is dead, or more slowly, preserved by the venom and tucked away in the clay below the viper vines' 'lair'. They sometimes operate symbiotically with larger plants like the flower of death, feeding on its waste and excess prey.
