Really Weird Plants

Plants shape the Earth, from the tundra to the rainforest to the desert. Directly or indirectly plants give us all of the food we eat and all of the oxygen we breathe. There are over 250,000 species of plants on Earth - ferns, conifers, flowering plantsand the diversity is staggering. Strange and unusual plants abound from those that are so small hundreds of them could fit onto the tip of a pin to those that have leaves over 6 feet in length. There are those that ever so silently strangle other plants and those that need no soil with which to grow. Some are deadly when eaten, others are carnivores themselves.

The Nipple Plant The Nipple plant also known as the

Cows Udder plant is a hardy perennial with large velvety leaves, small purple flowers and firm thorns. Its showy yellow nipple shaped fruit is related to the tomato. Unlike the tomato however, it's quite poisonous. It does have some medicinal properties though and can also be used as

a detergent for washing clothes. The fruit can even last up to two months which is a long time in relation to fruits. It is native to South America.

The Worlds Largest Flower Another plant that has a really foul

smelling flower is the Rafflesia arnoldii. This flower is actually the largest single flower in the world (though you may hear that the corpse flower is, when actually the flowers of the corpse flower are tiny and found clustered at the base of the stem) and can grow up to 3 feet across and weigh up to 15 lbs. Like the Corpse Flower above, it is found in the rainforests of Sumatra. And like the Corpse Flower, its odor is similar to that of rotting meat, again to attract insects that pollinate it.

This plant is actually a parasite plant, as it has no visible leaves, roots, or stems. It attaches itself to a host plant (the Tetrastigma vine) to obtain water and nutrients. Buds of the flower take many months to develop and the flower itself lasts only a few days making this plant rather difficult to find. In addition, since the primary rainforests of Sumatra are rapidly disappearing, the Rafflesia arnoldii is currently considered an endangered species.

Another Big Weird Smelly Plant 

This is the flower of Hydnora africana, a plant from the Hydnoraceae family. All plants in this family are parasitic. The Hydnora africana emits a putrid smell from a structure within it called a bait body. This smell attracts its main pollinators which are dung beetles. Numerous stiff bristles found on the inner surface of the bait body restrain the trapped beetles from escaping. After feeding on the bait bodies, the trapped beetles drop down the flower tube onto the anthers collecting pollen all over their bodies. They then drops even further down onto the soft cushion-

shaped stigma thus pollinating the flower.Most striking is this plants complete

lack of leaves making it look more like a fungus than a plant and it really is only distinguishable from fungi when the flower has opened. Although it has no leaves, it does have roots and stems which all grow underground. It produces a fruit, also underground, which is edible and very starchy. A fully grown, ripe fruit from a Hydnora africana may measure up to 80 mm. The fruit is slightly sweet and contains up to 20,000 small pinhead sized seeds. These fruits are enjoyed by mammals such as porcupines, moles, baboons, jackal and also birds. The seeds are not digested and can therefore germinate when excreted by animals.

Hydnora africana is found in dry and semi arid areas from the western coast of Namibia, southwards to the Cape and then northwards throughout Swaziland, Botswana, KwaZulu-Natal and as far as Ethiopia. It is not easily encountered but it is not considered rare or endangered.

A Plant That Can Walk! Perhaps you think you've seen it all but have you seen the plant that can

actually walk? The walking palm is a palm tree native to the rainforests of central and South America. Its stilt like roots enable it to walk, towards the sun at a rate of 1 meter per year.

Really Bizzare And Really Old The Welwitschia mirabilis

The Welwitschia mirabilis is considered a living fossil. It grows only 2 leaves from a short, thick, woody trunk. These leaves grow continuously. As the grow

to about 2 - 4 m in size, they become split into several sharp sections and its sometimes hard to see the 2 leaf origin. They grow out sideways and absorb water through some strange features on their leaves that allow them to collect dew left on the leaves during the evening.

Welwitschia mirabilis is one of the oddest plants in existence and one of the longest lived, living 1,000 to 2,000 years! This species has separate male and femal plants and

is a gymnosperm, so it makes cones. A fair number of plants are said to exist in the wild but it is considered endangered due to its very slow growth and the fact that older plants are often sought by collectors.

The GIANT Water Lilly 

its Pretty Amazing...David Attenborough and the

BBC series The Private Lives of Plants yet again.