Here at Clare Florist we would like to make it clear that our bouquets of flowers do not come with a complimentary beetle.
Why do we feel the need to assert this, you ask? Well, after the surprise one lady in Norwich got after she was given a bouquet of beautiful protea, it's best to make it clear that normal service does not include insects.
The young woman, whose name is apparently "Flower Trower" which is AMAZING, first noticed the beetle after her cat, Tilly, started examining it on the floor. “The cat was looking a bit freaked out and I thought she had got a mouse or a frog or something but there was a giant beetle sitting there,” said Flower Trower, who added: “She didn’t damage it, she’s not that brave.”
“I’d never seen anything like it before, so we tried to find out more about it,”
And it turns out the little beetle is a wee bit special.
Dr Tony Irwin, senior curator of natural history with Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service at the Shirehall, said that it was a green protea beetle, Trichostetha fascicularis.
“There have been records of accidentally importing live specimens to Europe with cut protea flowers, and I suppose that this is how this specimen arrived,” he said.
“The beetles can fly quite well, so if it was to emerge in a florist’s shop, and flew out the door, it could easily end up miles away. It is suspected that the larvae of the beetle may be a pest.”
