Rare plants in the world

Posted by: Community Writer | Community.Drprem.com in Nature

Gardening is considered as one of the most constructive and creative hobbies. Preparing the soil, sowing the seed, nurturing and taking care of the seedling to help it grow into a plant is really a creative job. Those who love gardening know that all plants do not require the same water, soil, manure, oxygen and nutrients from the soil in equal proportions. Not only that, all plants and flowers are also not very easily available. There are some varieties that are rare. These rare plants bear rare species and bear flowers and fruits that are radically different from the most common ones seen in the gardens, open landscapes and wilderness. The aroma, shape and size of the flowers and the fruits, the height, pattern of growth, foliage, etc. could also be separated distinctly from the ones commonly found. Moreover, these rare plants do not grow everywhere as their climatic needs are also shapely different. Here is a list of ten such rare plants.

1. Encephalartos woodii

This plant is extremely rare now. Initially, it was spotted growing at the wild forests of Ngoya in Zululand, in South Africa in 1895. It was conserved and now this plant is restricted to the botanical garden only where it was transported from Zululand and planted on the soil bed of the calibrated Temperate House together with other South African plants. It is a cycad variety and has separate male and female plants. Unfortunately, no female plants were found ever since, which indicates that the propagation will be extremely limited. The male cones are orange yellow in color.

2. Amorphophallus titanum (Titan Arum)

This rare plant is found only in Huntington. It is grown in the botanical garden of the area, known as Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science. Its bloom is very rare and on every occasion of its flowering, botanists find subjects to research upon. The characteristic bloom features a half open giant flower with a red, thick central wick. The internal part of the flower is red with greenish yellow outer surface.

3. Rafflesia arnoldii

The flower of this plant is considered as the largest flower on earth, known till date to mankind. Instead of aroma, the flower emits an unsatisfactory odor of decaying flesh. This is the reason why it is also called corpse flower. This plant is only found in the dense rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bengkulu. It is a parasite plant that lives on the Tetrastigms vine and is characterized by large leaves, stems and roots too. The odor of the flower attracts insects like flies that help in its pollination.

4. Erysimum menziesii

This is a rare wall flower variety found only in the sandy beach areas of California, Humboldt, Mendocino and Monterey. These are short in height not more than 15 centimeters and consist of long and straight leaves with thick, hairy and lobed stems. Thick cluster of yellow flowers with round petals grow on tops of each of the stems. The flowers shed to give way to the long, sticky fruits.

5. Manzanita

This is a common name for many varieties of plants under the genus of Arctostaphylos, which are predominantly evergreen shrubs or small trees. They are found in North America, mainly in the areas of British Columbia, Washington and California, Mexico, etc. The branches are twisted and the barks of these vegetation are smooth, with orange or red color. They have a wide variety of heights, from ground hugging ones to six meter tall trees. Some of these varieties are used for culinary while others form parts of landscape gardening.

6. Pennantia baylisiana

It has been regarded by Guinness Book of World Records as the rarest plant on earth. Only one tree survives at Three Kings Islands off the New Zealand coast. This tree is believed to be female but there are controversial findings against this too. Efforts have been made by the botanists to multiply the plant. Hence, seeds have been sowed with care, but a matured plant will arrive only after ten years if only they survive the ravages of time and unfavorable climate.

7. Snowdonia hawkweed (Hieracium snowdoniense)

As the name suggests, this rare plant is found at the valley of Snowdonia, situated in Wales, United Kingdom. The plant bears flowers which are extremely simple, having velvety rims with yellow petals. Till a few years back the plants of this variety stopped producing flowers, which made the botanists think that it is getting extinct. But flowing in 2002 broke the conception.

8. Hackelia venusta

The common names of this plant are Showy stickseed or Lesser showy stickseed. This plant is found only in a small topography at the Chelan Country of United States. It grows up to 20 to 40 feet and is a perennial shrub, having several leaves. It flowers in the months of April and May, when the flowers appear in clusters and features white or tinted blue tone with five, rounded leaves and short, tubular stem. The fruits are tiny and have hairs all over that assist them to disperse from the mother plant. Sandy rocky soil with extreme sun is the basic requirement of this plant.

9. Nepenthes tenax

This rare plant has close resemblance with the pitcher plant. It grows up to a height of 100 cms with the pitcher shaped flower on the top, having a height of 15 cms. It belongs to the biological family ofNepenthaceae and bears a biological name, Nepenthes tenax.

10. Welwitschia