Monotropa uniflora: the ghost or corpse plant

Also known as the 'Indian pipe'.
Its a  herbaceous plant found in regions of Russia ,Asia ,North and South America.
This plant is rare in occurrence.

The characteristic feature of this plant is that it doesn't contain chlorophyll making it a parasite and white in colour. 

Its found in association with mycorrhizal fungi( mainly with the Beech trees).
The stem is white waxy covered by scale like leaves and bear a single flower.


Flowers are found pointing towards the ground which prevents the the rainwater from entering into the flower(but the older flowers turns up to ensure successful pollination).
Flower is with 3 to 5 petals and yellow stamens.

At the base of the stamen there is a pair of nub like nectaries inviting the insects




Flowering is usually after the rainfall.

They produce capsule fruits and after the fruit formation the plant turns brown to black in colour.
So now you have a plant to add ,to your ghost archive.....

White as an Indian Pipe

Red as a Cardinal Flower

Fabulous as a Moon at Noon

February Hour-

                                 Emily Dickinson

BIRD OF PARADISE

You must have heard about' birds of paradise ' ..the birds with the most beautiful ,differently colored plumage and so, called the birds of heaven....
And here I am  talking about a bird of paradise which isn't a bird but a plant... the Strelitzia .

 

Strelitzia flower

Strelitzia is a plant native to South Africa of only 5 species.
They are commonly known as crane flower and is the floral emblem of the city of Los Angeles.
The leaves are broad and large with a long petiole forming a fan like crown.

Flowering is from May to September and produces flowers in an inflorescence with a stout spathe.The flower made of  variously (green or red) colored bracts in a series forming canoe (narrow boat)like structures which bears yellow or orange (sometimes purplish blue or white )colored petals.

 
The bright color of these flowers gives it a resemblance to the brightly colored bird of paradise.
They are pollinated by sunbirds, which on landing on the spathe helps in releasing the pollens.

The fruit is a capsule with many seeds with an orange tuft of hairs(aril).

They are now a common ornamental plant making our earth a paradise.

MOREA VILLOSA: THE PEACOCK IRIS

Everyone admires the beauty of a peacock dancing in rain and it is in its dance and its beautiful colored plumage but how many you know the flower with  peacock feathers ?
Yes in our mother nature there is a plant with this beauty... the Morea villosa.

The  petals of this flower have crescent-shaped bands of navy,blue and green color towards its inner edge resembling a peacock feather.

The plant is endemic to western cape(a province of South Africa).The plant is known by its hairy stems and leaves which are long and often longer than the stem.
Usually ,a single narrow leaf arises from the base of the stem
Flowering is from August to September producing large showy flowers with three large petals and a nectary at the base.
Morea flowers may be of different colors but  purple is common.
Anthers are attached to the underside of the style branches.

The flowers are pollinated by monkey beetles or hopliini beetles(the band color of petals mimics the color of beetles).

Male and Female monkey beetles

After pollination,the flower remains for several days and produce fruits which are cylindrical capsules.Propagation also done through their bulbs.

Seeds of Morea

The peacock morea is included in the list of vulnerable plants as there is a chance of this plant to get extinct bcoz of its large attractive flower.....

KRISHNA KAMALAM: A flower representing the whole family of Veda Vyasa

Passiflora

Passiflora is also known as passion flowers or passion vines with about 500 species and has a pantropical distribution (tropical regions of all continents).

They are mostly vines and shrubs with hairy stem and leaves.
Leaves are used as food by many species of butterflies and moth.To prevent the butterflies from laying may eggs on a single plant ,some passion flowers bear small coloured nubs resembling their eggs fooling them  that more eggs have already been deposited.

Also,many species produce a sweet liquid attracting which kill most of the pest feeding on the flowers.

Flowering in July producing flowers with a unique structure.

In most of the species ,flowers require large bees like bumble bees,carpenter bees or humming birds for effective pollination.

In some species, the flowers are also covered with hairs secreting the sticky liquid.

They produce a round or oval berry with a juicy interior filled with seeds.

 
This flower has a significance in Hindu mythology

the 100 blue petals represent the 100 Kauravas,
the 3 green or yellow anther at the centre represent the three Pandavas,
the 3 pistils(violet) at the centre represents the holy trinity- Vishnu ,Brahma ,Maheshwar,
the green bulb( ovary) represents Draupadi and at the centre you see small filaments radiating out which represents the Sudarshan chakra of Lord Vishnu.

Beside this, it is also compared to the crown(of thorns) of Jesus,its blue colour to that of Lord Krishna, sometimes to the Kurukshetra...
In any ways, it is one of the magnificent flowers in nature...

Corpse flower: A flower loving beetles and flesh flies more than butterflies.

Amorphophallus titanum(Titan arum)

 

A plant native to western Sumatra, growing in rainforests.
It consists of a fragrant spadix of flowers covered by a spathe which looks like a large petal.
The fragrance resembles a rotting meat attracting beetles and flesh flies for pollination.
The spadix is deep red in color with two rings of small flowers.
The upper ring bears male flowers and the lower ring bears female flowers(red colored stigma).
The female flowers open first, the after one or two days the male flowers open preventing the self-pollination.

At the time of blooming the spadix has a human body temperature which helps the smell to volatilize into the air and reach long distances. After pollination, the flower dies and a single leave (of a size of a small tree) grow from the underground corm.The pollinated flowers develop a globose berry of varying colors depending on species.
Each year the old leaf dies and a new leaf grows.Leafs are born on a green stem.

 







Since the flowers are  large and produce powerful smell it takes a lot of time and energy to bloom.
But the question is if the plant is producing carrion-like smell to attract the insects ,then why it is not producing sweet smelling flowers.

PLANT WITH A TAIL??????

Agave attenuata

Also known as" lion's tail" ,"fox tail" or" swan's neck".

It is an ornamental plant native to central Mexico.The stem grows 50 to 150 cm with grey to yellowish green leaves.
The inflorescence is a dense raceme of 2.5 to 3 meters with greenish-yellow flowers which are spike-like and it grows from the center of the leaf rosette.The plant got its name from  this stem of inflorescence as it resembles a tail.






Flowering is in spring and summer.

Usually,the original  plant dies after production fruits which are oval brown.

• Beside as ornamental plant,the flowers are edible and the agave nectar is used for sweetening instead of sugar.  
• Agave is a food plant for caterpillars of some butterfly and moth species.
• Natives of Mexico use this plant to make pen,nails,needles and strings for weavings.
• Leaf tea used for constipation and gas problems.
• Baked fibers used for making beverages.

This species of agave is rare in wild and often mistaken to have spines.But unlike other species,this plant has no teeth or terminal spines making it an ideal ornamental plant.

ORCHID WITH A HAMMER

Drakaea : The narrow lipped hammer orchid

The hammer orchid is an orchid endemic to Western Australia.

This plant is pollinated by a single species of male thynnid wasp using sexual deception.

The orchid's labellum( or lip) resembles in shape and scent of female flightless thynnid wasp.

Again the labellum is maroon in color and  with scattered hairs resembling the insect.

Flowering is in November to December ad produces capsule-like fruits with up to 500 seeds.

It has developed an intelligent mechanism for pollination.

The scent from the labellum mimicks the pheromone produced by the female thynnid and when the male detects the pheromone it flies in a zig zag pattern until it reaches the female.

Once the male reaches the labellum (attracted by pheromone) ,the wasp tries to fly away with the labellum. In this process, the thorax of male wasp comes in contact with the sticky pollen packet and the pollens get attached to the body of the wasp. The pollination is considered  successful only if this pollens fall on the stigma of same flower or of another hammer orchid.

 

This is a wonderful example of mimicry in nature for survival ...

The Largest Flower : Rafflesia

Rafflesia is the world's largest flower, but you are not going to get it at any of the florist shop of your area.



The bloom of rafflesia is too large and it is too smelly to include it in boquet.

Rafflesia grows about in an area of a yard and it smells like a rotting meat. This horrible odor helps this plant to survive.

The stench draws flies which pollinate the Rafflesia. This way the Rafflesia reproduces itself.

Rafflesia do not have stems, roots or leaves. Rafflesia do not produce chlorophyll.

Rafflesias are parasites that do not sting or bite but attach themselves to jungle vines. The vines serves as host plants which provide rafflesia with all nutrirional requirements.

Blue Waterlily and White Waterlily : the two sisters of Nymphaeaceae family

"THE SKY WAS MIDNIGHT BLUE LIKE, WARM , DEEP, BLUE WATER, AND THE MOON SEEMED TO LIE ON IT LIKE A WATER LILY FLOATING FORWARD WITH AN INVISIBLE CURRENT"
                 - WILLA CATHER

"Blue like sky  and white like ice the two sisters and the true lovers of moon"

Often a woman's face is compared to a white lily  and the complexion of Lord Krishna to that of a blue waterlily.

Waterlilies are aquatic plants found in temperate and tropical climate throughout the world.
The  plant is  rooted in the soil inside the water body and leaves and flowers of the plant float on the surface of the water.

It bears  round leaves (with a notch in some species) and big single flowers with long pedicel.

The white lilies  bloom only during night and close with sunrise whereas the blue lilies blooms in morning and close at dusk.

These fragrant flowers remain for 2 to 3 days and are then shed leaving berry-like fruits.

• They provide  habitat and food for many aquatic animals.
• In china , the lily buds are used in Chinese cuisines.
• The rhizome used for fevers,cleaning wounds and sores.
• Fibers from water lilies used in textiles and handicrafts.
• Flowers used in rituals and scared purposes.

Though they were considered as weeds , now a days they are  increasingly used as ornamental plants.

White waterlily is the national flower of Bangladesh and  blue waterlily is the national flower of Sri Lanka, also the state flower of Andhra Pradesh(India).

In literatures and poetics ,they are symbolic of the grief of separation, separation from her lover moon...

The Midday Flower Or Copper Cups: Sun Of Earth

Pentapetes phoenicea

A small woody plant native to South Asia.
Small stellate hairs are found scattered on stem and leaves.
Though the flower looks like those of  hibiscus, we can identify them from their leaves which are olive green in color with serrated margins.

Flowers are with 5 red petals and yellow colored stamens.
The flowers are often compared to the sun as they are of glowing red color and blooms at night.

They produce elliptically shaped seeds which are covered with stellate hairs.

The plant is grown as a ornamental plant but considered as a weed in rice fields.
Sometimes used as a source of fibres.
This plant is mainly used in fever and snake bites.




"FLOWERS DOESN'T DREAM OF BEE. IT BLOOSOMS AND THE BEES COMES"
                                                                                                         - MARK NEPO