Two More Plants You May Never Have Hear DAbout

Amorphophallus is indeed strange with its erect enormous spadix that sticks up in the air. This is where it gets its name as it's derived from two Greek words 'amorphos' and 'phallos'. For those with tender eyes and ears, jump this next sentence and go to the next paragraph, as I tell you what it means. These Greek words together mean shapeless penis.

It comes from a family that are subtropical and tropical plants with tubers and are herbaceous called the Arum family. There are 170 plants in this subdivision alone that usually grow in the lowland of West Africa on to the Pacific Islands.

Some of these plants have leaves that are several feet across. That has a leaf stalk that is vertical and a horizontal blade, which can have more leaves below. The leaves only last for one season and come off a massive tuber that grows under the ground and prefers ground that has been disturbed, like a secondary forest.

The spathe may have several different colors, but usually are purplish-brown starting with a greenish white that are composed of warts that are meant to trap unsuspecting insects. This flower once it is pollinated smells like rotting flesh. Once it is pollinated the flower open then releases the insects so they can go forth and pollinate more flowers. So it is a very efficient plant. The plant then makes a fruit-like berry that can be quite colorful.

This amazing plant spathe alone can grow to a height of over seven feet in length.That is some tall spadix. I can not say I even saw one on Guam when I lived there. However, I 'm glad I never ran into one, as it would have frighten me quite a bit if I had.

This other flowering plant called the Drakaea glyptodon looks and smells like raw meat. This helps to attract the wasp that will pollinate it. It is a member of the Orchid family called "a hammer orchid", because the shape of the orchid and its movement look like what a hammer would do. It has a narrow hinged stem that only moves backwards and has an unusual method of getting pollinated.

The females of the wasp species Thynnid can not fly, so they wait for their male counterparts to fly in and carry them off. Then they mate in the middle of the air. The Drakaea plant looks like a female wasp, being the same color and shape. It also produces a pheromone smell like the female wasp so the males think they have a waiting female sitting there waiting on them. This entices the male wasp in, where he is temporarily trapped by the backward motion of the stem, putting the male in contact with pollen and not releasing him until the pollen is left in the area of the stigma. Thus it's reproduced by deception.

It is one clever plant as the wasp gets nothing back for its efforts You would think they would learn, but apparently they don't as the hammer orchid is abundant in areas where it grows,