The interesting facts about flowers are so innumerable they could probably fill an entire series of QI, with plenty left over. Here are a few to get Stephen Fry and co. started:
- Attar of Roses (or rose oil) is used as the base for the most expensive perfumes in the world. Perhaps the reason for the great expense is that it takes four tons of roses (two million individual flowers) to make just 2lb of Attar.
- Prior to switching to modern materials, dried sunflower stems were used to stuff lifejackets and make the buoyant.
- Sunflowers really are a lifesaver – they were also used to help mop up radiation after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The roots are able to absorb strontium and caesium, reportedly removing 95% of radioactivity from irradiated water sources.
- The carnation remains the UK’s best selling cut flower, followed by roses and lilies.
- The world’s biggest bouquet of flowers contained 175,000 flowers, stood a whopping 15 feet high and was presented to APJ Abdul Kalam, then president of India, at the International Flora Expo in 2006.
- The oldest known flower, Archaefructus sinensis, dates back 125 million years. Discovered in China (its named means “ancient fruit from China”), the flower is thought to have grown in shallow lakes at the time of the dinosaurs.
- Saffron, the world’s most expensive spice, is obtained from the Saffron Crocus. The stigmas of the flower are dried and used by cooks for seasoning and colour.
- The royal seat of the Emperor of Japan is known as the Chrysanthemum Throne. The throne is located in the Kyoto Imperial Palace and is used mainly for accession ceremonies.
- It is estimated that there are approximately 250,000 species of flowering plant on Earth, only around 85 percent of which have so far been catalogued.
- In 1996 Americans purchased over 1.2 billion roses – over four roses for every single person living in the country.
- The sap of the daffodil contains sharp crystalline structures that make them unpalatable to grazing animals like sheep and cattle.
