- U-Report
VIVA – Plants play an enormous role in the world’s ecosystem, supporting life as known. Plants are nature’s ornaments, decorating our forests and earth. Some plants combine colors and shapes that are breathtakingly beautiful. Some plants have the strangest appearance. So, here are 10 strangest plants that you must know:
1. Rafflesia Arnoldii
Bunga Raflesia Arnoldii Mekar dengan 7 Kelopak (Instagram/kpplbengkulu)
Rafflesia arnoldii is the biggest flower in the world. It is smaller than a corpse flower by considering some elements. It is mainly found in forests of Sumatra, Indonesia. Rafflesia will grow up to a size of three feet. Like corpse flowers, the plant produces an unpleasant irritating smell.
2. Baseball Plants
Baseball Plant
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It is generally known as euphorbia obesa native to South Africa. The plant has exactly the same shape of a baseball. It is an unbranched plant with an average height of 20cm. The special species of baseball plant is protected by national nature conservation as it is very rare in the world.
3. Hydnellum Peckii
Hydnellum Peckii
- pixabay
Hydnellum peckii is a special type of fungi that produces blood or juice-like fluid on its surface. This plant is also known as ‘bleeding tooth fungus’. Scarlet pigment causes blood like the color on the fluid of this plant. This strange plant is mainly found across North America and Europe. It is edible, but the blood-like fluid is extremely bitter in taste.
4. White Baneberry
White Baneberry
Actaea pachypoda or baneberry is a small ball type plant native to North American forests. It is also called a doll's eye because of its special shaped fruits. This plant stands 60 cm tall and only has very few leaves. Its red thick stems also look very interesting.
5. Welwitschia Mirabilis
Welwitschia Mirabilis
- pixabay
Welwitschia Mirabilis is a unique plant that is only found in the desert of Namibia. The estimated lifespan of this strange looking plant is between 500 and 1500 years.
It can survive within many extreme weather conditions. The most interesting thing about Welwitschia is the plant only has two leaves that grow continuously over time. This strange species also has separate male and female plants.
6. Mimosa Pudica
Tumbuhan Putri malu (Mimosa pudica linn)
Mimosa pudica also known as ‘sensitive plant’ or ‘shy plant’ native to South America. But, mimosa pudica can be seen all around the world, especially in shady areas.
The most attractive feature of mimosa pudica is nothing but its response to touch. Its leaves immediately fold up on touch. The primitive nervous system within this plant which balances flow of water from beneath the leaves which cause this sensitive nature.
7. Lithop
Lithop
- pixabay
Lithop can be described as living stones, a plant that exactly looks like stones or pebbles. In fact, its unique shape is caused by the merging of two separate leaves at the outer edges of the plant. The leaves of the lithop plant grow in the very rainy season.This extremely strange plant species is mainly found in South Africa.
8. Corpse Flower
Bunga Bangkai
- VIVA/ Putra Nasution/ Medan
The corpse flower is generally known as ‘titan arum’. It is the largest branched main stem concern flowering plant in the world. The corpse flower is endemic to Sumatra, Indonesia. During flowering, the plant stands at 8.2 feet tall. The plant also produces the smell of decomposing animals.
9. Venus Flytrap
Venus Flytrap
- pixabay
Venus flytrap also known as Dionaea muscipula is a carnivorous plant. It means the plant consumes small insects and animals as food. Venus fly traps can be found in the Eastern Carolia especially in wet inhabitants. Venus flytrap has special lobes to trap the prey animals.
10. Pitcher Plant
The pitcher plant is another type of carnivorous plant native to SouthEast Asia. The plant has an attractive deep red color. The attractive smell of pitcher plants helps it to easily catch the prey.
The insects and small animals become the main prey of pitcher plants. It is said that some species of pitcher plant can even consume mice.
