Vegetable world of our planet is so rich and diverse that it never ceases to amaze even scientists. This ranking lists the top 10 unusual plants of the world, capable of overturning ideas about botany with their appearance. It seems to be a very honorable thing to be a botanist, as these scientists can surprise the whole world with their discoveries.

10. Creepy handshake

Thanks to the flowers unusual shape, chirantodendron is called the "hand of the devil." The homeland of this tree is Mexico, which was inhabited by the Aztecs several centuries ago. Chirantodendron flowers they used in their magical rituals, and all because of their similarity with a five-fingered brush. The color of the petals only adds color, because at the ends of the so-called fingers, red sharp claws are clearly visible. During the flowering period, the tree is very abundantly covered with “palms”, which sway eeriely in the wind.

9. Blooms and smells

For Europeans, this plant is very unusual, but people living in the tropics and subtropics do not consider amorphophallus to be something unusual. A plant develops from a tuber the size of an average grapefruit. And for local residents, it is of gastronomic interest. AT Japanese cuisine amorphophallus tubers are added to soups, stewed with vegetables. And the dried pieces are ground into flour, from which noodles are subsequently made. But having become acquainted with amorphophallus during the flowering period, not every tourist then dares to eat it. The amorphophallus flower reaches a height of 2.5 m. This huge and incredibly beautiful flower, like the famous rafflesia, exudes an unreal stench. The smell of rotting meat attracts insects that pollinate the plant. And the larvae of some species of moth amorphophallus can have a snack, replenishing the supply nutrients. This plant proves that appearances can be deceiving. And because of bad smell there are few people who want to admire a beautiful flower live. The rest make a choice in favor of high-quality photos.

8 Dragon Blood

If the bark of a dragon tree is damaged, a red, tarry liquid similar to blood will come out in this place. Because of this feature, for many years the natives considered the tree sacred. Modern scientists are not in awe of the sap of dragon trees, but they study them with great interest. These unusual plants are found on the African continent and on the southern islands of Asia. They grow rather slowly, but specimens of impressive size come across, the girth of which can reach 15 m. Such dimensions can boast specimens of a very respectable age. Experts say that the dragon tree can live up to 9,000 years, but without complex research it is impossible to determine the age of the plant, since it does not form growth rings.

7. Living stones of the desert

Translated from ancient Greek, this plant is called "having the appearance of a stone." Many amateur flower growers also call these unusual houseplants living pebbles. Lithops come from the African desert, but with proper care feel good in an ordinary city apartment. Lithops is two fleshy leaves that are separated by a gap. A pair of leaves lives for one year, then it is replaced by a new pair, the dividing gap of which will be located strictly perpendicular to the previous one. Such life cycle due to the arid climate characteristic of these plants. Old watery leaves serve as a source of moisture and nutrients for new ones. Developing, lithops can “throw out” another pair of leaves nearby from one root. Over time, they grow into small flocks.

6. An established supermarket

Baobab is considered an unofficial symbol of the African savannah, this silhouette is very recognizable. unusual tree. Baobabs have peculiar proportions, their trunk is too wide relative to the height of the tree. And all because in it the plant accumulates and stores nutrients and water. Stocks are enough for the entire period of drought, however, at this time the tree decreases in volume and even sheds foliage. Local residents have learned to use baobabs to the fullest. They joke that if a baobab grows nearby, then you don’t need to go to the market. So, nets and mats are weaved from the bark, fruits are eaten, shampoo is made from them, faces are painted with rhizome juice, and wood ash saves natives from many diseases. The tree itself can serve as a good home. The fact is that wet wood under the influence of fungal infections is often destroyed, and the baobab becomes hollow inside. However, this does not prevent the mega-hardy tree from continuing to grow and bear fruit. According to the results of recent studies, it was concluded that baobabs live for more than one thousand years. So such empty trees can shelter up to 40 people inside. But when the baobab does die, it crumbles into small pieces, and leaves behind only a mountain of rotten wood.

5. Foggy prospects

meet in the world unusual species plants that need specific weather conditions for a comfortable life. One of these exotic plants is amazing velvichia. This plant can be found on the rocky desert soils of Namibia and Angola, where it rains only 2 months a year. The rest of the time, the sun kills all living things. At the same time, Velvichia manages to survive. And all because the main source of moisture for this plant is thick fog, due to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The plant absorbs moisture from the air with its huge leaves. True, there are only two of them, but the length of each reaches 8 meters, and the width - up to 2 m. To shade the rhizome, the plant divides its wide leaves into narrow parts in the form of belts. The latter die off over time, but the shade from them allows the plant to survive in extreme conditions. Due to the withered foliage, the plant seems to be dead, but in fact its life potential is amazing. Velvichia is often mistaken for grass, but in fact it is a tree, and quite ancient. With the help of carbon analysis, it was found that the age of individual specimens exceeds 1500 years.

4. You don't need a reason to dance

An unusual shrub called Desmodium gyrans grows in Asia. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that the leaves of the plant are constantly in motion. This happens provided that the plant receives enough moisture and light. Only then can one observe how some leaves literally dance on a branch. Scientists explain such movements by jumps in water pressure inside the leaf cells. But, despite the scientific conclusions, from the outside it looks a lot like magic. It is striking that the cyclical movements of the leaves resemble the human heart rhythm. This, as a result of research, was established by an Indian scientist. Well, a person should remember that he is as much a part of nature as the exotic Desmodium gyrans. But the bush dances are worth a look.

3. Water lily for Thumbelina

Some unusual plant species enjoy special attention in the countries where they grow. So, the Amazonian Victoria flaunts on the coat of arms of Guyana, a small South American state. Yes, and there is something to be proud of, because this is the largest water lily in the world, the leaves of which reach 2 m in diameter. Such a leaf can withstand not only the fabulous Thumbelina, but also a person or animal weighing up to 50 kg. The flowers of the plant, which appear once a year for 3 days, require special attention. delicate flowers with a diameter of 30 cm on the first day have a snow-white color. At night, they close, and sink under water to appear the next morning of the second day in a pale pink color. On the third day, they change color to raspberry or purple, and by evening they go underwater for the last time. So, for three days, water lilies appear on the surface of the water in all their glory, but their withering is hidden from the eyes of the audience.

2. Fly for lunch

The Venus flytrap is a rare predator plant. Its leaves of a special shape are able to snap shut abruptly, holding the insect inside. As soon as the food is inside, the leaf begins to secrete an enzyme to digest the insect. On average, one leaf spends up to 10 days for the complete digestion of organic matter. After that, only the chitinous shell remains from the fly. During its life, the leaf manages to “eat” up to three insects. Such predatory behavior of the plant is dictated by the environment of its growth. Under natural conditions, this plant can most often be found in a humid climate on swampy soils. Similar conditions are found in the United States on the Atlantic coast. The swampy soil is poor in nitrogen, eating insects, the flycatcher makes up for the lack of nutrients. Today, it is fashionable to breed unusual indoor plants, and the Venus flytrap may well become one of them.

1. Timid beauty

Mimosa bashful, perhaps, overshadowed all the most unusual plants in the world. This is herbaceous plant reacts instantly to the slightest touch. One has only to touch it, as all the mimosa leaves, as if embarrassed, curl up, and the twigs droop. True, after 5-10 minutes of rest, the plant again returns to its original form. In nature this exotic plant can be found in Central America, but as houseplant The shy mimosa grows all over the world. However, you have to see it with your own eyes.

Who doesn't love flowers? There are probably very few such people. And this is not surprising, because they are so beautiful and smell good, and besides, they can be used to decorate the interior of your own home. Any flower shop boasts a wide variety of flower types, but none of them will contain the flowers that we will tell you about next. The most beautiful and unusual flowers from different parts of the world are waiting for you next. And let even the white roses blush with shame.

Tricyrtis or toad lily

This flower grows in Japan and looks more like a starfish than a plant.

Grouse (Fritillaria)

Fritillaria is Latin for a box of dice. The plant is also known as the checkered flower. Growing such a miracle in your own garden is not difficult. Silver spruce Echinoformis will be in perfect harmony with it. Thanks to the constant work of nurseries from amateur gardeners main problem it becomes not drown in the variety of plants and own desires with which they are successfully assisted by experienced consultants.

Cypripedia

These flowers are also known as ladies' slippers because of the yellow bulging petal.

Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii)

AT this moment are on the verge of extinction, grows in the US state of Florida, also in Cuba and the Bahamas

Strongylodon largecarpus

These turquoise plants are related to peas and beans and are native to the Philippines.

Passion flower meat-red

There are many types of flowers belonging to this family that can be found throughout the Americas and Asia. Such flowers can be seen during the flowering of passion fruit and are very fond of hummingbirds.

Datura

Despite all his beauty, these are very highly toxic flowers that can easily lead a person into a serious state of delirium, up to death. Once these flowers were widely used as a poison in Europe and Asia.

Primrose

One of the most stylish colors

Platycodon grandiflora

Also known as flower balloon". Native to East Asia and sometimes used as an ingredient in salads.

Ginger hive (Zingiber spectabile)

Fantastic flowers resembling a beehive can reach up to 4.5 m in height.

Orchid "flying duck"

Guess why this flower got such a name

Chinese lantern (Abutilon × hybridum)

This family has many beautiful flowers but this is the brightest

Amorphophallus titanic

This beautiful flower is also known by the not-so-pretty name "corpse flower" because it smells like rotting meat when it blooms to attract carrion-eating animals and insects for pollination.

Psychotria

In fact, these red "lips" are not a flower, they only protect the flower that is inside them. Grows in Central and South America

Egret Orchid (Pecteilis radiata)

This orchid, native to Central and East Asia, resembles a fluffy white bird.

Tacca Chantrier or "black bat"

A flower very reminiscent of a large black bat, can be found in South-East Asia. Thanks to its "gothic" color scheme, this flower tends to stay away from the color of the sun

Holy Spirit Orchid (Peristeria elata)

Not to be confused with the ghost orchid, this flower grows in Central America and is also called the dove orchid (also try to guess why)

Flowers "sporting"

Botanists call this phenomenon "sporting", which means the spontaneous mutation of one part of the plant.

Trichozant serpentine

This lacy flower with serpentine fruits is native to South Asia but can be found in warmer regions around the world. Its fruits and herbs are edible

Orchid "naked man" (Italian orchid)

You can immediately see the reason for such an unusual flower name.

Hoya (Wax ivy)

Little flowers look like candy

Orchid "pink moth" (Phalaenopsis)

Bright orchid looking like a bird in flight

Monkey Orchid (Dracula simia)

An orchid whose flower is very reminiscent of a sad monkey

Japanese Camellia (Camellia Japonica)

This one may seem to you a completely ordinary shape and color, but all its unusualness lies in the spiral flowering of the petals and the fact that it grows at an altitude of more than 300 meters and blooms only in cold weather.

Epiphyllum

These plants bloom very rarely, and only at night. They are extremely sensitive.

Snapdragon (Antirrhinum)

After Snapdragon fades, seed pods remain, which are very similar to small skulls

There are unusual plants that live 150 years and only at the end of their lives give amazingly beautiful flowers. How can representatives of the terrestrial flora surprise?

rare flowers

Edelweiss is the flower of fidelity and love. Its name alone sounds like music. The most touching and gentle, about which there are many legends. The Italians call it the silver flower of the rocks. The French are an Alpine star.

The flower loves the sun, but grows high in the mountains near the snowy edge. It is not given to everyone to see it. The legend says that only a person in whose heart love is pure as dew can find this mysterious flower. It is not enough to be agile and strong in order to climb to the top of the mountain. We must love sincerely and wholeheartedly, be devoted to our beloved.

There were so many people who wanted to get the flower that already in the 19th century it was almost impossible to see it. There were a couple of dozen copies left, which were on the verge of extinction.

In Switzerland, where this flower grew, a special law was issued that prohibited the collection of this plant. Violators faced hefty fines. At the mountain borders, there are special posts that do not allow tourists to the habitats of this flower.

The Chinese mouseflower is the most creepy and disgusting flower that Mother Nature could create. Even from a close distance, when its petals are closed, it resembles a bat that perched on a branch for the night. To give it an even creepier look, it has long, ornate tentacles 30-40 cm long that resemble black snakes. The first impression of those who saw it is horror.

It is grown only by extreme flower growers, since not only appearance, but touching it in most people causes a feeling of disgust.

Middlemist red is the rarest flower in the world. On everything the globe there are only 2 copies. British gardener John Middlemist, traveling in China in 1854, was fascinated by a scarlet rose, which he accidentally discovered. He dug up the flower and brought it to Britain to plant in the United Kingdom's greenhouse. He could not even imagine that thanks to this he saved the last copy of the flower in the world. This scarlet rose was named after him.

Our world is extraordinarily rich various types plants, flowers of incredible beauty and mighty centuries-old trees, which are taken under protection all over the world. It depends only on the person that there are as few pages as possible in the Red Book.

rare tree species

The Methuselah pine is the oldest tree in the world. Its age exceeds 4850 years. And she received the name in honor of the biblical character, who was the only long-liver in the whole world.

This majestic tree grows in the USA, in the White Mountains at an altitude of 3000 meters. Its exact location is known only to botanists who monitor the pine. Such secrecy is connected with the fact that to protect this guard from vandalism. After all, there are thousands of tourists who want to take a picture with him or tear off a piece of the bark as a keepsake. Many go to the mountains to find this mysterious tree, but all their attempts end in failure. The Methuselah pine is not a tree, it is a symbol of eternity, which looks like a dead one, but life is hidden in each of its branches.

The tree of life is the loneliest tree in the world. Probably, like life itself, reminiscent of loneliness among a crowd of people. It is the only one on the sands of the endless desert of Bahrain, a hundred kilometers from any vegetation.

He is 400 years old, but the most important thing is not his age or the fact that this is a rare specimen of trees. Scientists are wondering how it is possible to live for so many years in the desert, in the land of which there is absolutely no water, while “radiating” vital energy.

If you “transfer” from far corners of the world to our region, with the greenery of meadows and the noise of birch groves, you can discover amazing and rare plants that are on the verge of extinction.

Interesting plants from the Russian Red Book

The Japanese beard is a beautiful and graceful plant with a large pinkish flower, which is popularly called the Spirit of the Meadows. It got its name because of the petals, which, bending at the bottom of the flower, resemble a gnome's beard.

The beard is a miniature orchid. So soft, graceful and beautiful. The flower can grow alone, modestly "peeping out" from the arrows of the green meadow grasses. But most often the plant forms scatterings of flowers, where 1 square meter there can be up to 60 of them. The plant is listed in the Red Book, and is protected by law.

Rhododendron Fori - a plant with large flowers color pink. On one brush can grow up to 15 delicate, with slightly wrapped flower petals. It is called the flower of the gods. Its beauty is compared with the Greek goddesses - graceful, slender, tender. You can admire its beauty endlessly, but only the lucky one can see it.

The legend says that this flower was presented to a man by the Gods, who wanted to win the heart of his beloved. The flower was as beautiful as the girl for whom it was intended. When her betrothed took her to distant lands, rhododendrons bloomed in the fields so that people would remember not only her beauty, but also believe that there is unearthly love in the world.

It can be said about this plant that seeing it is to know the being of life. Understand that life and death are far apart, but at the same time as inseparable as two sisters.

The rarest plant in the world

Puya raimondi - a plant that lives 150 years to gain life force and die. To die forever, giving the world the unearthly beauty of your flowers.

Growing from a round and huge ball, the plant reaches a height of up to 10 meters. A powerful trunk resembling a tree develops from a thin stem. But the huge "cone", prickly in appearance, resembles a huge flower, which slowly grows in height for 100 years. Having lived 150 years and having gained vital energy, it gives the world a scattering of a thousand flowers and dies. Dies forever.

This plant is truly beautiful, but there are other amazing representatives of the flora. .
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The title of the owner of the thinnest and most delicate leaves should, apparently, be given to a fern called maidenhair: its leaves are usually composed of just one layer of cells.

And the sharpest leaf is considered the sharpest leaf grass leaf putang, which grows in the New Indian Ocean Local Guinea.

Living on this Pacific island Ocean Locals Papuans use putang for shaving. coast of the Indian Ocean They say natural blades are nothing along the Indian coast not inferior to steel. However, strongly northern sedge you can cut yourself with the leaves of our sedges are the strongest northern sedge.

The strongest and most resilient leaves palm pandanus growing near the palm tree pandanus growing in tropical Asia The locals weave in Polynesia and along the coast the most leaves Indian Ocean. The locals weave Cypress favorite of God of which are strong and light favorite of the god Apollo mats and baskets.

patron god Apollo

And most of the leaves named Cypress favorite cypress. According to ancient Greek myth, beautiful mythu handsome young man a young man named Cypress, a favorite cypress According to ancient Greek god Apollo, patron of the arts, was According to ancient Greek myth turned into beautiful tree, entirely ancient Greek myth beautiful covered with scaly leaves. Experts have calculated our northern sedge that on one tree leaves of our northern turned out to be 45 to 50 slut that grows million.

The oak has 250 thousand leaves, New Guinea Living beech has no more than 200 this Pacific island thousand. And, as it was putang herb which said only one plant putang grass leaf his life does not part with considered a sharp leaf two sheets is a sheet is considered a sheet velvichia.

The leaves of the Malay tree are amazing considered to be a leaf of grass trevesia. Each sheet has its own pacific island papuans own pattern that does not repeat Papuans use the island on one tree, and some steel However strongly of which resemble enlarged However, cut yourself a lot many times snowflakes.

By the uniqueness of their leaves, perhaps you can cut yourself a lot no tree compares inferior to steel with Indian evergreen under natural blades nothing name ficus krishna. It is bred in ornamental Papuans use Putang purposes and considered sacred, so shaving How is there a myth about that natural blades that gave shape to its leaves Apollo patron of the arts indian god Krishna.

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