There’s nothing we like better than discovering remarkable new species of flowers. Whether they are sublimely beautiful or just plain weird, there’s always something intriguing about out-of-the-ordinary blooms.
So, after bringing you a few ‘unusual suspects’ in a recent post we thought it was time to showcase some more bizarre blossoms:
Corpse Lily
Corpse Lily (Rafflesia arnoldii)
The Corpse Lily is known for producing the largest individual flower of any plant in the world, but it is its overpowering stench of rotting flesh that gives the flower its common name.
Found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, the Corpse Lily is a parasite which survives by attaching itself to the Tetrastigma vine.
Passion Flower
Passion Flower (Passiflora)
There are over 500 species of Passion flower; all unique and staggeringly beautiful.
They can be found on every continent but Antarctica and, belying their topical appearance, some species can tolerate temperatures as low as -20°c.
Flor de Muerto
La Flor de Muerto (Lisianthius nigrescens)
The Flor de Muerto, or Flower of Death, is the closest thing to a genuinely black flower in the natural world.
Found in the dry climates of Mexico and Guatemala, the flowers of the Flor de Muerto hang down from the plant’s 6-foot stems, looking almost withered and dead. Interestingly, the Flor de Muerto is the only flower to fully absorb all wavelengths of UV and visible light.
North American Pitcher Plant
North American Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia)
The Pitcher plant is a carnivorous flower native to North America, ranging from Texas up to the Great Lakes and Southern Canada.
Its leaves form a long funnel in which it traps insects and gradually digests them with special enzymes.
If the slippery sides of the pitcher plant weren’t bad enough, the nectar of the plant also contains a narcotic that causes drugged insects to topple into the digestive juices below.
Fly Orchid
Fly Orchid (Ophrys insectifera)
The Fly Orchid, a native of Southern England and North Wales, relies entirely on flies and bees for pollination.
To facilitate pollination, the orchid’s flowers do an excellent job of mimicking the creatures it needs to help it reproduce; not only do the flowers look like large flies, they also release a scent similar to the pheromones of female flies. Male flies land on the flower to mate with the ‘female’ and by the time they realise they’ve been duped are covered in pollen.
