Snowdonia Hawkweed

Snowdonia Hawkweed (Hieracium snowdoniense)

It may not be smelly, oversized or weird looking, but Snowdonia Hawkweed may just be the rarest plant in the world. Botanists thought it had gone extinct decades ago, but in 2002 it wasrediscovered growing on a mountain slope in Wales. "We were literally capering about for joy on the mountain ledges like lunatics when we found it," said Tim Rich, head of vascular plants at the National Museums and Galleries of Wales.

Fun Fact 

Amazingly, it was rediscovered in 2002 after a 35-year period when it was thought to be extinct.

Waterwheel Plant

Waterwheel Plant (Aldrovanda Vesiculosa)

Closely related to the Venus flytrap, the aquatic, free-floating waterwheel plant has similar snap-traps on the end of each ‘spoke’ emerging from the main stem. Each trap is covered in ‘trigger hairs’ that cause the trap to close when stimulated.

Fun Fact

Winter-hardy Aldrovanda form turions as a frost survival strategy. At the onset of winter, the growth tip starts producing highly reduced non-carnivorous leaves on a severely shortened stem. This results in a tight bud of protective leaves which, being heavier and having released flotational gases, breaks off of the mother plant and sinks to the water bottom, where temperatures are stable and warmer. 

Welwitschia mirabilis

Welwitschia mirabilis

If this desert plant looks like it came straight out of the age of dinosaurs, that’s because it did. Two succulent leaves continuously grow from the short, thick trunk, splitting over time into strap-shaped sections. The leaves can reach twelve feet in length. These odd plants are considered living fossils and can live up to 2,000 years.

Fun Fact

This plant usually grows 20 inches in height and 6.6 feet in length. Larger plants are often seen in areas where rainfalls are rare.

Dead Horse Arum Lily

Dead Horse Arum Lily (Helicodiceros muscivorus)

When a plant’s name has the words ‘dead horse’ in it, you know it’s bad news. H. muscivorus is a giant flower bearing the distinct scent of rotting meat, meant to draw in female blowflies which it captures inside its swollen cavity and holds there through its first night after flowering. It releases the flies, now covered in pollen, the following day to move on to neighboring H. muscivorus plants.

Fun Fact

Once the flies are inside, they become trapped for up to six hours until the male parts of the flower begin to produce pollen. The chamber then opens and, as the fly leaves, it brushes past the pollen and then carries it to other flowers, fertilising them in the process.

Cycad

Cycad (Encephalartos woodii)

It’s one of the rarest plants in the world: a tall palm with dark, glossy leaves, once found only on a single south-facing slope on the edge of the Ngoye forest in Southern Africa. It’s extinct in the wild and produces no seeds – the only plant ever found was male. People have begun crossing it with its closest relative to produce ‘pups’ that, after 3 generations, are almost pure E. woodii  again.

 Fun History

In 1895, a single clump of an unknown cycad species was discovered by John Medley Wood on the edge of a forest in South Africa. Over the next two decades, all four stems of Wood’s cycad were removed from the wild and taken into cultivation. To date, a second wild plant has never been discovered, but the successful cultivation of offsets of the original plant, has ensured the ex-situ preservation of this enigmatic species. In addition to its rarity, the striking appearance of Wood’s cycad has made it one of the most sought after cycad species in the world.

Sensitive Plant

Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica)

You might say this pretty little plant with its starry pink blossoms and fern-like leaves is shy. Reach out and touch it, or even just blow on it, and its leaves will close up as if startled or protecting themselves. When it’s disturbed, the stems release chemicals that force water out of the cells, which makes the leaves appear collapsed. It’s not known exactly why the plant has evolved to possess this trait, but scientists think it may be to scare off predators.

Fun Fact

Latin name of the plant, "Mimosa pudica", originates from unusual habit of the plant to shrink its leaves when touched ("pudica" means "bashful"). Mimosa is also known as sensitive plant, humble plant, touch-me-not, sleeping grass and shameful plant.

Dancing Plant

Dancing Plant (Desmodium Gyrans)

 Have you ever watched a plant move all by itself? The “dancing plant”, also known as the telegraph plant, actually moves its leaves in jerky motions when exposed to direct sunlight, warmth or vibration – hence their reaction to music. Its leaflets, each of which is equipped with a hinge at the base that allows it to move, rotate along an elliptical path. This plant is famous for being a favorite of Charles Darwin, and is featured in depth in his book The Power of Movement in Plants.

Fun History

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful Dai girl named Duoyi. She loves dancing very much and dances skillfully. In gaps between the farming periods, she often tour around villages of different ethnic groups to perform for the poor. She was later known for her masterful performance. However, sometime later a bad leader came and robbed Duoyi and forced her to dance for him only. Duoyi didn’t follow and she escaped and suicide by drowning. People from the village then salvaged her body and held a funeral. Over the time, some beautiful grasses were grown from Duoyi’s grave, and they ‘dance’ whenever music starts. From then, people called this plant as ‘Dancing-grass’, and they believe the grasses are the incarnation of Duoyi.