Plants can be interesting too!

Plants are living organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. They provide us with food for eating, wood for building materials, chemicals and extracts for medicines and they also convert carbon dioxide into life giving oxygen. They are composed of many parts such as roots, stem, leaves, buds, flowers, fruits etc.

Just like animals, over millions of years they have adapted and evolved into many varieties and some of them are very strange things.

Corpse Flower (amorphaphallus titanum) – This impressive flower gets that rather unfortunate name from the odour it gives off. Which is said to be reminiscent of a decomposing body.

Corpse Plant (rafflesia arnoldii) – This is the worlds largest flower, sadly it is let down by it’s smell. You’d think one giant flower smelling of rotting flesh would be enough… but no! Scientists believe these flowers smell like they do to attract insects that feed on dead animals so that they can be pollinated.

Dolls Eyes (actaea patchypoda) – It’s obvious where this plant gets it’s common name, but don’t worry they’re not really eyeballs. Just a rather poisonous berry.

Giant Sequoia (sequoiadendron giganteum) – These are the largest trees on Earth and this is General Sherman ‘THE LARGEST TREE IN THE WORLD’. It is nearly 84m high and 8m wide.

Venus Fly Trap (dionaea muscipula) – There are quite a few animal eating plants out in the world but the venus fly trap has to be the most famous. When an insect touches one of the tiny hairs on the leaves they snap shut and so begins a 10 day long process of digestion.

Giant Water Lily (victoria amazonica) – Named after Queen Victoria these water lilies can grow up to 5 metres wide and some are strong enough to be used as stepping stones.

Fly Orchid (ophrys insectifera) – This strange looking plant is all about deception. As well as looking like an insect this plant also gives off pheromones that smell like females to lure in male insects.

There you go! I told you plants could be just as interesting as animals.