The most bizarre shaped flowers in the world

1. Hydnora flower in Africa

This flower with a wide mouth with jagged “teeth” is most commonly discovered in arid African deserts such as South Africa, Namibia, and Namakwaland. At first glance, it’s easy to think that the flowers are dying due to the hot sun, but the closer you get, the more uncomfortable you will feel with the scent emanating from them. Only the dark brown, rough flower part with red berry flesh emerges from the ground to attract beetles that love bad smells to pollinate, the rest of the fruit and stem lie below the ground.

2. Lithops camouflage genius

You have to be very sharp-eyed to spot the African Phalaenopsis plants among these rocks

People call this flower Thach Lan because when the flowers have not yet bloomed, they look like pebbles and rocks hidden in the surrounding environment. Unlike normal plant leaves, Lithops leaves come in different shades from cream, gray, brown, to leaves decorated with tiny red dots and even shaped like a very beautiful brain. Each year, Thach Lan only produces 2 pairs of new leaves in winter, growing inside the current pair of leaves, and in spring the old leaves wither to make way for a pair of young leaves.

Thach Lan’s flowers sprout from fallen leaves

In contrast to the strange shape of the leaves, the flowers of this plant are yellow, white, purple with a sweet scent and often sprout from cracks, traces left from the old pair of fallen leaves. Thach Lan seeds germinate very easily, but young plants need careful care because they are very vulnerable in the first year.

Who would have thought that this was an extremely unique flower

Young Lithops plants have a very green color when they first germinate

Thach Lan leaves are succulent, so they are sometimes used to quench thirst in arid Africa

3. Tacca Chantrieri bat flower

Tacca Chantrieri flower buds look like bats sleeping on trees

Possessing wide black wings and big “teeth” like scary bats, the Tacca Chantrieri flower is loved by many people and taken care of as a valuable asset. They thrive in the tropical rainforests of Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia, which have cool, humid climates year-round. Mature plants are about 70 cm tall with flowers bristling with tentacles up to 30 cm long. The Chinese often use the root of the bat flower tree to treat stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, hepatitis and minor burns.

4. Passion Flower dancing flowers

The flower has a unique structure perfectly adapted to attracting many pollinating insects belonging to the Passifioraceae family (Passion fruit) found worldwide except Europe, Africa and Antarctica. Depending on each species, there are flowers with different large and small radii from 3-5 cm to 5-20 cm with a variety of colors purple, white, red and decorated with long tassels radiating around like a flared skirt. momentum of women.

Some Passion flowers can fool butterflies into wanting to lay eggs on flower petals by sprouting clusters of fake eggs that look just like the real thing or secreting a sweet-tasting liquid that attracts ants to pick up insect eggs and eat them. Pest larvae cling to flower petals.

Many species even emit a foul smell from the leaves to repel some small insects that want to attack the rich nutrients on these Passion flowers. With the richness of species and unique adaptations, people have also discovered many medicinal uses from them: fresh or dried leaves are used to treat insomnia, epilepsy, anti-depression and also have the effect of reducing pain. very effective pain. Their fruits have many segments and a sour taste that can be eaten, and for men, the dried leaves can be used instead of cigarettes, although there is still no documentation on the harmful effects of this.

5. Starfish flower Stapelia flavopurpurea

They look just like starfish on land, but they are actually succulent flowers originating from South Africa and Namibia that often grow in rocky mountain areas, under cool canopy of hibiscus trees. The flowers bloom in the summer and autumn, when the weather is warm, and they enter the dormant stage at the beginning of winter. Although it looks beautiful, it is a rotting-smelling flower that attracts flies for pollination; Others have a pleasant scent. The pale flowers often have the scent of honey or almond powder.

Starfish flowers also have many different shades on many color patches that change from brown to dark red, green or bright yellow, in the center of the white flower is covered with a layer of purple-white hairs.

6. Monkey-faced, horse-faced and human-shaped orchids

This “Monkey” has a very moody face

The strange orchid with a monkey face was first named by botanist Luer in 1978 as “Dracula Simia”. They are found in abundance in the tropical forests of Peru and Ecuador at altitudes of 2000m. The common name is “Orchid Hau Tu”, capable of blooming all year round unlike other species that only bloom in a certain season. The scent of monkey flower is very similar to ripe oranges and tangerines, very attractive. Currently, this is a rare orchid because of its unique ecological characteristics that only grow in mountainous areas where the temperature is stable, the humidity is high, and the climate is cool all year round.

The Ma Lan flowers are performing a circus in mid-air

The ghost orchid, scientific name Dendropylax lindenii, was found in 2007 after rumors of extinction for nearly 20 years, growing on a leafless Cypress pine tree in a conservation area Northeast of Naples, USA. This first orchid is quite large, about 35 years old, has no leaves and produces a lot of flowers – some people call it Super Ghost. That year, the orchid flowered 3 times in the summer, each with 12, 10, and 9 flowers respectively. This flower variety is currently discovered in southern Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba. They are small flowers with developed branches that also function as photosynthesis. The flowers are usually about 15 cm large and bloom from July to October with a sweet scent secreted at night to attract the Giant Sphinx Moth to suck nectar and mainly to pollinate this precious orchid.

The man was grinning

So is this woman

The orchid has a happy face that always “grins” with a scientific name, Bee Orchid Ophrys apifera, up to 30 cm tall, distributed mainly in the south of England, growing in all environments from roadsides to grasslands. , on lime, under bushes or wasteland. The first flower of the year in the early fall months then continuously grows up to 10 flowers. Bee flowers are easy to identify by their unique scent and color. The most popular is the dark brown bee-lipped orchid, with two small green side leaves, covered with soft hairs like bees, and their color reminds people of a grinning old man.