Eight of the World’s Most Unusual Plants


5. Wollemia nobilis: This bizarre-looking tree was known only from 120 million-year-old fossil leaves before 1994; fewer than one hundred exist in the wild. They have strange bark that looks like bubbles of chocolate, multiple trunks, and ferny-looking leaves growing in spirals. They can grow up to 125 feet tall.



 


6. Welwitschia mirabilis consists of only two leaves and a stem with roots. Its two leaves continue to grow until they resemble an alien life form. The stem gets thicker rather than higher, although this plant can grow to be almost six feet high and twenty-four feet wide. Its estimated lifespan is 400 to 1500 years. Mirabilis grows in Namibia, and is thought to be a relic of the Jurassic period.




7. Drakaea glyptodon: an orchid. It is the color of, and smells like, raw meat. Pollinated by male wasps.


8. Wolffia angusta: the world's smallest flower. A dozen plants would easily fit on the head of a pin and two plants in full bloom will fit inside a small printed letter "o."



Updated July 2, 2010
 
32 readers liked this story.
From Around the Web:
10.21.2010
Magda Navarro
My grandmother who lived in Puerto Rico when I was a kid; had a plant that had one flower and the flower opened only at midnight. When she told m about the plant, at first I was skeptical. Therefore, One night I sat on guard and witnessed the flower opening exactly at midnight. It maintained itself open for a very short time, then it closed. That was one of the many amazing things I have witnessed from nature.
09.22.2010
Grace Marie
omigosh that first one is crazy!
06.26.2010
g. typing
Anyway, Mary Katz, yr website was broken when i tried to surf it.
06.26.2010
g. typing
If only if all the articles about plants hav their common n genus names.it's so diffiicult find the names i want for my recent plant project. :(
03.20.2010
Mary Katz
I love the TickleMe Plant. It moves like the plant in Avatar. The leaves instantly close and even the branches droop when Tickled! It is amazing that now anyone can grow this tropical wonder indoors year round in the TickleMe Plant Greenhouse. They even have TickleMe Plant Party favors! If your house plant doesn't move when you Tickle It - grow one. See how interactive it is here http://www.ticklemeplant.com
It feels good to write.

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