Seven Of The World’s Weirdest Plants

Everyone should be familiar with the genus Dionea or “Venus Fly Trap” above, but the vegetative world is home to plenty stranger, and while perhaps not as adrenaline-pumping as Crustaceans or as gruesome as Amphibians, plants provide food, shelter and oxygen for the entire kingdom Animalia, so they certainly deserve the spotlight once in a while, and their weirdness does not disappoint.

Bladderwort Traps

Rather unremarkable in appearance from above, these tiny aquatic plants are actually carnivorous, and display one of the most sophisticated mechanisms (carnivorous or otherwise) in the entire known plant kingdom.

The “bladders” of the plant’s namesake are thousands of tiny, sac-like pods which hang from submerged branches, each equipped with a hinged “door” and membranous seal held shut by a delicate equilibrium of pressure. At the slightest touch by some tiny insect, crustacean or even protozoa, the seal is broken and the bladder floods with water, sucking in the prey for digestion.

Un-carnivorous Plants

Members of the genus Nepenthes are usually adapted to attract, trap and digest insect prey in their fluid-filled “pitchers,” but Nepenthes lowii favors an alternative, even less savory diet. The rim of its “trap” secretes a sweet, milky substance that small birds may find both an enticing treat and fast-acting laxative; only seldomly catching insects, lowii derives most of its sustenance as a public toilet.

Another un-carnivorous pitcher is Nepenthes ampullaria. While other pitcher traps are shaped to keep clear of fallen leaves, twigs and other inedible detritus, this scavenging cannibal leaves itself open to whatever might fall into its gaping gullet, actually favoring the digestion of vegetable matter.

Ants in the Plants

Most trees and shrubs in the Acacia genus discourage hungry herbivores with a bitter alkaloid chemical in their tiny leaves, but a few species have developed an even more effective and far more amazing line of defense by forming a mutual partnership (symbiosis) with biting, stinging ants. One such partnership is demonstrated by the Acacia cornigera or “bullhorn” acacia and the ant Pseudomyrmex ferruginea. The large, hollow pods of the plant’s namesake are a perfect place for the ants to raise their young, and the plant produces two kinds of sustenance especially for its tenants; carbohydrate-laden nectar from glands along its stalks and nodules of protein from the tips of its leaves. In return, the ants not only attack other animals that disturb their home but clear away any other vegetation that may grow around the base of the tree.

“Sexual Deception” in Orchid Flowers

At first glance, the flowers of many orchid species can fool even a human into seeing some colorful bee, fly or wasp, and the resemblance is far from coincidence. Each flower not only approximates the size, shape and color of a different local insect, but imitates the female reproductive pheromones of the appropriate species, attracting male insects in a
certain special mood.

Dung Beetle Jail

Hydnora africana is a plant that spends most of its existence completely underground, feeding parasitically off the roots of more conventional flowering plants in the Spurge family. The parasite reveals itself only when its bizarre, fleshy flowers begin to poke up through the soil, emitting the smell of fresh, steamy feces. With their joined petals and thick, inward-pointing hairs, the flowers are structured so that dung beetles and other scavenging insects can easily enter, but cannot escape until the flowers are mature, ensuring their prisoners will be thoroughly coated in pollen by the time they leave.

A Predatory team-up

Though adapted to attract and trap insects in its sticky coating, the “paracarnivorous” Roridula genus produces no digestive enzymes of its own, leaving the final act of predation in the hands of a second party…

The Parasitic Corpse Flower

Over a meter across, the flower of this rare Malaysian plant is the single largest known to man, and that’s only the beginning of Rafflesia arnoldii’s unusual characteristics. The rest of the plant consists only of a fungus-like filament, which grows as a parasite exclusively within the vines of Tetrastigma, an exotic relative of the grape. Arnoldii produces its titanic bud directly from the surface of its host, and grows for several months to bloom for only a few days.