How do flowers inspire us? The flower symbolism started from ancient times onward. The flowers symbolize love, affection, friendship, beauty and morality. There are also many strange looking flowers that catch our attention in no time. Here list of 10 strange looking flowers in the world.
10 Black Bat Flower
The black bat flower or tacca chantireri is an unusual flowering plant that found in Thailand, India, Malaysia and East Asia. As its name indicates the plant has unique bat-shaped purple-black flowers. This bizarre flower grows 12 inches across and has long stems which reach up to a length of 28 inches. The long black stems or whiskers make ‘bat in flight’ like appearance of this bizarre flower.
The bat flowers grow best in tropical regions with high humidity. The plant blooms in midsummer, typically in black color. The bat flowers also come in brown, green and maroon.
9 Happy Alien Flower
This bizarre looking perennial plant is native to South America. The happy alien plant is also known as ‘Darwin’s slipping flower’. This strange plant was discovered by Charles Darwin in between 1831-1836. The flower look like happy faced alien with empty white tray in its hands. The happy alien plants are also found in rocky alpine terrains of the Southern regions of South America. So for an observer it looks like a totally strange flowering plant in an alien planet.
The happy alien plant bloom in summer season. The unusual flower has a height of 2 inches and a punch like shape. The happy alien flowers display a combination of orange and yellow. The throat of the flowers is in deep red and also has a white band inside the tray like part of the flower.
The unusual shape of this flower also attracts small birds like hummingbirds and they like to eat the white and lip like part of the flower. The pollen from upper part of the flower also settles on the body of birds during their meal. It helps happy alien plants in pollination.
8 The Swaddled Babies Orchid
The exotic swaddle babies orchid or anguloa uniflora flowers are native to Colombian Andes of South America. The flowers have an opening in their upper parts and inside look like a swaddled baby. The flowers also have a hinged lip. The anguloa uniflora plant bloom in summer. The large waxy flowers grow 10 cm across and they are very fragrant.
Like the unusual shape the pollination mechanism of anguloa uniflora plant is also interesting. When a pollinating insect enters the flower to drink the nectar they shoved against the column of the flower where pollen is located. This is the trick used by anguloa uniflora orchid for pollination.
7 White Egret Orchid
White egret orchid or pecteilis radiata is a strikingly beautiful flowering plant native to Asia. It is also known as fringed orchid and Sagiso. The plant blooms in summer and have attractive pearly white flowers. The flowers look like the snowy egret bird in flight. The small flowers only have a width of 4 cm. The pristine white petals look like the tail of a bird. The plant also features large nectary which grows up to a length of 8 cm.
6 Dancing Lady Orchid
The dancing lady orchids (oncidium) are named after their distinctively shaped flowers. The small upper part and large lip of the flower resembles a dancing lady. The oncidium plants grow in tropical and subtropical regions of South America, Central America and Mexico. This attractive orchid flowers available year around. There are dozens of flowers grow in each branch of the plant. The flowers come in a variety of colors including pink, white, yellow and red.
5 Hooker’s Lips Flower
The Psychotria elata flowering plant is known as Hooker’s lips because of its bright red bracts that look like juicy lips. The Psychotria elata is regarded as the most kissable plant in the world. It grows in the rain forests of South and Central America.
Unfortunately this attractive red lip like shape of this flower only remains for a short time. After that the lip like shape disappears from the plant to new small white flower grow from center of large red bracts. Even the lip shaped flower remains only for a short time it helps the plant to attract pollinators such as small birds and butterflies. The deforestation also results in declining the number of hooker’s lip flowering plants.
4 Flying Duck Orchid
The Celena major or flying duck orchid is one the of most amazing flowers of Australia. The plant is called as flying duck orchid because its flower has ‘duck in flight’ like shape. This remarkable flowering plant only grow in Southern and Eastern Australia. The flowers of this attractive orchid species are in brown to purple. The sepals and petals of the plant only have a length of 1.5 cm. The ‘duck in flight’ like shape also helps the plant to attract pollinating insects.
3 Naked Man Orchid
The orchis italica flowers native to the Mediterranean are also known as ‘naked man orchid’. This remarkable flower resembles a naked man with a smiling face. The plant grows at an attitude of 1300 meters and reach up to a height of 20 inches. The naked man orchid blooms from March to April. The attractive flowers appear in large clusters and displays shades of bright pink to purple. The orchis italica flowers are hermaphrodite, that is they have both male and female organs.
2 Laughing Bumblebee Orchid
The attractive bumblebee orchid or ophrys bombyliflora flowers grow in Canary Islands, Turkey and Lebanon. The large sepals, small bronze colored petals and brownish lip of this unusual flower resemble an attractive female bee. In that way this incredible flower act like female pollinator.
The male pollinators like solitary bees get attracted with this fake appearance. The pollen from the flowers settles on body of male pollinators on their physical contact with the flower. This pollen gets transferred to another bumblebee orchid upon their next contact with another bumblebee orchid flower and pollination occurs.
1 Monkey Orchid
The amazing monkey orchid only grows at high elevations of Peruvian, Columbian and Ecuadorian forests. The petals and lip of the flower completely look like a monkey face. The flower also has three long spurs that grow from the end its petals. The monkey orchid also has a pleasant ripe orange like smell.
The scientific name of the flower is ‘Dracula simia’, named by Botanist Luer in 1978. The name indicates two different features of this amazing flower. The first part ‘Dracula’ refers the long spurs of the flower. It is because the spurs of monkey orchid look like Dracula’s fangs. The second part of the name ‘simia’ indicates the monkey face like part of the flower.
