Flowers make the world so beautiful and colorful. There can hardly be a person who does not like flowers and this is why they make a perfect gift for all occasions, be it birthdays, anniversaries, father’s day, mother’s day or Valentine’s day. Even if you just want to make someone feel special a beautiful flower bouquet can do the trick.
However, the flowers that you gift or have been gifted are quite common, including roses, dahlias, lilies, sunflowers, and so on. However, Mother Nature has gifted us with a few unusual flowers too that you perhaps have never seen or heard about. They are beautiful and unique in their own ways. And we shall get to learn about 10 such unique flowers right away.
The 10 Most Unusual But Unique Flowers in the World
10. Snake’s Head Fritillary
These wild unusual flowers have beautiful chequered petals that look like snakeskin. This flower is also known as leper lily, guinea flower, frog-cup, chess flower, and guinea-hen flower. Its name Fritillaria is derived from the Latin word fritillus, which means a dice box, and this refers to the chequered patterns that you can see on the petals of this flower.
See also; 10 Most Amazing Flowers and Their History.
9. SnapDragon and the Skull
Also known as ‘Dragon Flower’, this unique plant looks like the head of a dragon. Whenever these flowers are squeezed, it looks as if a dragon is closing and opening its mouth. Once the flower dies, it leaves seedpod behind that looks quite like a skull. According to some people, this Snap Dragon Flower has supernatural powers. Many people once believed that the garden with this flower was cursed by witchcraft. Other people believe that when this plant is eaten it helps restore youthfulness and beauty.
You may also like to see the list of some beautiful but weird flowers.
8. Sea Poison Tree (Barringtonia Asiatica)
These flowers look quite like a cheerleader’s pompom when they are in their full bloom. You can find these unique flowers off the coasts of Indian and Pacific Oceans, and their sweet sickly smell easily attracts creatures like bats and moths.
See also; Beautiful but foul smelling flowers.
7. Common Sundew (Round-Leaved Sundew)
The Common Sundew, unlike most flowers, has sticky hairs with glands in place of petals, and they look just like small fireworks. In the sun, the sticky goo gleams beautifully and attracts insects. Darwin has written a full 285 pages about this plant, telling about the many experiments he has carried out on the Common Sundew.
6. Lithops Weberi
The Lithops Weberi is native to South Africa and it gets its name from the early Greek language. These species are not only unique but also clever as they can disguise themselves as rocks and pebbles, and thus avoid getting noticed and eaten by animals and predators. This plant sits very close to the ground and has one or a number of bulbous leaves. The exterior parts of these leaves are translucent which helps the light to reach the interior part and thus photosynthesis takes place easily. Whenever new leaves grow, white and yellow flowers also appear.
5. Lady’s Slipper Orchid
This unique flower is very special, so much so that it had a personal bodyguard at the Chelsea Flower Show that is conducted annually. It has been given the nickname of ‘lady’s slipper’ because of its yellow petal that looks like a small clog or shoe. It is one of the most unusual flowers that you can see in the UK.
4. Pitcher plant
For some people this is the ‘pitcher plant’ and for others, it is the ‘monkey cup’. The reason behind it being called so is its appearance. It looks like it is the water bottle of Mother Nature and can hold water even in the hot tropical climate. However, the water that this plant holds is very dangerous to insects, rodents, and small birds as it can hold and then dissolve any creature that gets too close to it.
3. Corpse flower
The Corpse flower is the largest bloom in the world. Though it surely is huge in size there is a problem with it – it smells like rotten flesh, and thus the name. The Corpse flower measure three feet wide and has no visible stem or leaves.
2. Night Blooming Cereus
This is a unique and most celebrated flower. Parties have also been organized in its honor, perhaps because it blooms just for a single night each year. Furthermore, it is also so popular because it smells more beautifully than any other flowers you can think of. Also known as the ‘Queen of the night’, this rare plant lives in the desert.
The waxy, creamy-white Night Blooming Cereus are very fragrant trumpet-shaped, many-petaled flowers. They bloom for only one night in June or July. These flowers are up to 4 inches wide and as much as 8 inches in length. These are the strangest flowers of the desert. Because of its inconspicuousness, it rarely seen in the wild. But each year on midsummer’s night, its exquisitely scented flower opens as night falls, then closes forever with the first rays of the morning sun.
See also; Most Beautiful Night Blooming Flowers That Really Mesmerize You.
1. Buddhist Udumbara
This rare and unique flower blossoms every 3000 years as per a Buddhist legend. This is believed to be an auspicious flower sent from heaven and was discovered originally in 2010 by a Chinese nun in the shape of a small 1mm white flower. Though very small, these flowers do have a good scent. This flower is said to be one of the weirdest flowers on earth.
This very tiny, fragrant flower, according to Buddhist legend was bloom the last time before the birth of Buddha. And, now spotted again across the world in past twenty years or so. Udumbara is a word from the Sanskrit, meaning “an auspicious flower from heaven.”
Each of these flowers is unique and beautiful and shows the artistry of Mother Nature. They only help make our Universe look more beautiful and such a wonderful place to live in.