The story is set somewhere in Kolkatta where the narrator
namely Parimal, a well known writer and former hunter in his younger days is
visited by Kanti Babu, a famous botanist and a very old friend. They first have
a casual talk and then Kanti comes to the reason for his visit. He tells
Parimal to visit him in Barasat and bring with him his Gun, that too with
bullets. Parimal reluctantly agrees and calls Abhijeet. He lies to him about
having a dog because he knew about his craze for Dogs. After a lot of
convincing, Abhijeet finally agrees for a drive to Barasat. The next day,
Abhijeet brings his car and also he also takes his dog Badshah, a Rampur hound,
with him for the drive. As they reach Barasat, they are greeted by Kanti, he
tells them to tie Badshah out in the lawn. Kanti Babu shows them his greenhouse;
he reveals that now he only keeps carnivorous plants in his garden, no more
orchids. He exhibits them his collection by showing and feeding his various
insectivorous plants like Venus flytrap, Pitcher, Sundue, Butterwort,
Bladderwort etc.
At last he precedes them to show the reason for calling
them, he leads them to a factory sort of building where they see a huge animal
like looking plant, it had a head and large and thick tentacles. It was called
Septopus because it had seven tentacles, at that moment the Septopus was
sleeping, so they got out of the factory. When asked, Kanti Babu tells them
that he brought it from Lake Nicaragua in Central America. People there call it
the Satan’s tree. He tells them that he saw it eating monkeys, dogs and other
animals. After days of careful searching, he managed to find a semen. The
reason why he called them with the gun was to kill it. Because of its increase
in appetite it demands more and more food. Once it also ate a certain amount of
flesh from Kanti’s servant’s hand. Now was the time to stop before it was too
late. After fifteen minutes, their conversation was interrupted by a smell;
Badshah also started barking and tried to get off the chain. The smell
indicated Septopus has woken up. After a lot of attempt, Badshah manages to
break the chain in spite of Abhijit’s resistance. He runs into the factory and
is trapped by the septopus in its tentacles. Abhijit runs to protect Badshah
but gets himself trapped; the weird plant leaves the dog, and gets shot in the
head by Parimal. A gust of blood erupts like a fountain and the Septopus dies. Two
of Abhijit’s ribs were fractured as a result of this encounter; it took him two
months to recover.
After four months following the incident, Kanti Babu visits
Parimal and is planning to get rid of the carnivorous plants, he offers Parimal
for keeping the insectivorous plants for they will help to keep away the
insects from his house but Parimal refuses and suggests him to simply throw
them out.