More Unusual Plants You Don't Often Hear About

Yesterday, I mentioned the world's smallest flower Wolffia angusta, so today I'll go the other way and tell you about the world's largest single flower bloom and a few other oddities of the plant world.

This strange reddish-brown flower bloom measures over three feet across, weighs up to 24 pounds, and strangely enough has no stem, no leaves and not even any roots. It is the named the Raffesia arnoldii, a parasite type plant that attaches itself to a grape vine called Tetrastigma and only grows in undisturbed rainforests of Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Borneo, and Sumatra. This is probably a blessing as it stinks, smelling like rotten flesh, which has prompted people to call it the Corpse flower. The buds take many months to develop but the flowers themselves remain only for a few days before they die. This plant is an endangered species that is slowly disappearing, even though all efforts to try to save it have failed so far. It should be noted that another flower, unrelated to this one, is also called the Corpse flower the Titan Arum or Amorphophophallis titanium because of its smell and this is not in anyway related to the Raffesia. For more on this strange blossom you can learn more about it at:

http://www.lostworldarts.com/asia/rafflesia_2.htm

Speaking of stinking plants, there are several that can qualify beside the two mentioned above. One such plant is really quite beautiful with a slender black-purple stalk coming from the center of a luscious maroon lipped spathe of the flower. A picture of it is on the left side of this article. In spite of its beauty, the Dracunculus vulgaris also smells like rotten flesh.. This plant has several nicknames as well, including the Voodoo Lily, Snake Lily, Stink lily or Black Dragon. This plant is native to the Mediterranean area and has even become a weed in some places. Fortunately they do not smell for long and only when the plant is mature lasting but a few days. They look like tropical plants but grow well in the United States in zone 5 through 8. However, you should not plant them near your door but instead in a section of your garden for beauty that is not near a place where you sit outside. For more on this fascinating beautiful plant check out this web page:

http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/02821.html

Hydnora Africana is a also a putrid smelling plant designed to attract the dung beetle in Africa however it even works in the United States for other types of beetles. If you were to see this plant at first you might not even see the flower, which is well hidden beneath a mass of green tendons. Only a small portion of the flower shows above the ground as most of it is below the surface of the soil but it is enough to attract the insect. However, the flower itself is a parasite that is thick and succulent of dark brown with a throat of bright red and white tendrils that close over its victim once it is inside. It is designed in such a way as to trap the beetles that make the mistake of heading down into the interior. It is similar in the way it works to the Pitcher Plant or the Venus Fly Trap since it catches the beetle and devours it. To read about this plant and see pictures of it you can go to:
http://www.botany.org/Parasitic_Plants/Hydnora_africana.php