Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
Oh, plants, we could never be able to count the ways we love you! Your calming green leaves give us serenity, the oxygen you produce brings us life, and your healing powers bring us health. Truly, there is no doubt that plants are life, and we love life! And, as life comes with various fun and interesting bits of info, so do plants. That’s why we’ve dedicated this list to everything and all about our green friends - welcome aboard to our facts about plants roster!
Now, you might already know some plant facts even before checking our lineup, but there are loads more plant trivia to learn! For instance, did you know that a cucumber is a fruit and not a vegetable? Or that the caffeine that most of us adore so much actually works as a pesticide for the coffee plant? Or did you know that there’s a carnivorous plant capable of devouring a fully-grown rat? P.S.: That’s one of our weird plant facts, but you can be sure that not all of them are such - others are purely incredible!
We have to admit something here - the deeper we dug into these cool facts about plants, the more we realized how little we actually knew about our little leafy fellas. That said, these interesting facts did help us expand our knowledge, and hopefully, you’ll find them useful too.
So, without any further ado, let’s skip to the fun facts about plants, shall we? As usual, they are just a leaf’s length further down, and once you are there, be sure to rank the facts by their awesomeness. Lastly, share this article with anyone who might enjoy it!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are 50 years old.
Bill McDowall 2 years ago
Sorry,but I couldn't stop me from adding (in a sinister voice), "shame if something happened to it"! 🤭
Load More Replies...
RELATED:
#2
Elephant grass, which grows in Africa, gets its name from the fact that it may reach a height of 4.5 meters, which is high enough to conceal an elephant.
#3
The entire dandelion plant, including the roots and petals, can be consumed.
StrangeOne 2 years ago
My daughter says they're not tasty. She told me she tried one when she was very young lol.
Mia Black 2 years ago
Yes, the white fluid in the stems is horribly bitter. I tried it as a kid too because my guinea pigs loved it . In my first school years we made dandelion "honey" (the flower heads, sugar and time I think) - was nice . I have not tried the rest yet but plan to do some day. Especially the root.
Load More Replies...
Pedantic Panda 2 years ago
Can you make you urinate more. Also don't eat of you're taking warfarin for any reason.
#4
Peru is the 'birthplace' of potatoes! That is where potatoes were grown initially roughly 7,000 years ago.
LizzieBoredom 2 years ago
and sometime in the early 1800s, several potatoes boarded a ship to Ireland just in time for the Famine.
Chewie Baron 2 years ago
Potatoes had been grown there since the mid 16th Century. Sir Walter Raleigh had an estate in Ireland, and started to plant them on his land. His Irish estate workers didn’t trust the plants and would dig them up during the night to get rid of them.
Load More Replies...
#5
In Australia, there is a plant called as the "Suicide Plant" because its sting can have a long-lasting effect and inflict such excruciating pain that some people have committed themselves after coming into contact with it.
PeepPeep the duck 2 years ago
We got taught (growing up in Qld around rainforests) which plants not to touch or go near, so glad I learnt this
Gabby M 2 years ago
Australia outside OR inside has always been a big NOPE for me lol. Creatures, Critters, Bugs SPIDERS and now plants. Yup a big NOPE!!!
Load More Replies... #6
A cactus plant's water cannot be consumed! Although cactus plants can store a lot of water, this water is sadly unfit for human consumption. Although not poisonous, the acids and alkaloids in this water are damaging to human kidneys.
Nikki Sevven 2 years ago
Yes, dehydration is damaging to human kidneys too, but drinking cactus water can cause vomiting, which makes dehydration even worse.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
I have some serious doubts about this. I see people in movies drinking cactus water all the time.
#7
Sunflower appears to have one huge flower, but each head is actually made up of hundreds of smaller blossoms, or florets, which mature into seeds. All members of the sunflower family, including daisies, yarrow, goldenrod, asters, coreopsis, and bachelor's buttons, have this characteristic.
LizzieBoredom 2 years ago
The spiral pattern in Sunflower Centers is the Fibonacci Sequence which is impressive for a plant that never took Calculus.
WindySwede 2 years ago
Though I think they mean that all those species is under the Asteraceae-family? Just read under the Wiki link, this is not correct!
#8
Cranberries float and bounce in water due to tiny air bubbles inside them.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
Pro tip: If you are ever stuck on a desert island, lash hundreds of thousands of cranberries together to float to freedom.
Nikki Sevven 2 years ago
Do tourists from other countries sink whilst wearing a brightly colored inner tube? Or are you just being deliberately offensive?
Load More Replies... #9
One of the oldest surviving tree species is the ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), which dates back roughly 290 million years. Another old species is the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), which has been around for roughly 150 million years. Before they were discovered alive, both had been identified in the fossil record.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
When I used to live in Brooklyn New York I always called these Dog Poop Trees because when they drop their berries in the fall they smell like, you guessed it, not roses.
#10
Nectarines and peaches primarily vary in that nectarines have smooth skin and peaches have fuzzy skin. Both nectarine and peach fruits can be obtained by grafting peach branches onto nectarine trees, or the other way around.
#11
The claim of having the hottest chili pepper in the world is still up for debate. The Carolina Reaper has already supplanted bhut jolokia, sometimes known as the "ghost pepper," which is 401.5 times hotter than store-bought spicy sauce.
#12
Bluebell flower juice used to be used to make glue. Its bulbs were crushed to create starch for collar and sleeve ruffs during the Elizabethan era, and their sticky sap was once employed to bind books and glue feathers onto arrows.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
The UK “The Old Timey Glue Capitol of the World”.
Load More Replies... #13
Camellia sinensis, is the source of all teas, including black, green, and white. The processing techniques are the only thing that is different.
LizzieBoredom 2 years ago
Anything you can put in a cup and steep is considered a tea ( unless it kills you, then it is considered a poison).
Ace 2 years ago
Not really; it depends on the country. Some places like France reserve the name (thé) only for products from this plant family. Anything else is a 'tissane' or an 'infusion'. Other markets do allow them to be branded as herbal tea, so you will find Chamomile or Peppermint Tea, for example, for the same product just across the border in Switzerland.
Load More Replies...
#14
The world's fastest-growing woody plant is bamboo. In a single day, it can grow up to 35 inches.
Mirabelle Skyrim 2 years ago (edited)
Bamboo has less impact on the environment and a smaller carbon footprint than cotton. It also doesn't rely on pesticides, fertilizer and water to grow. It's also naturally resistant to insects or infecting pathogens. Fabric made from bamboo is also anti-bacterial and has a lot of other properties that cotton lacks.
Mia Black 2 years ago
it's also far more compressive than wood, so it's a shame that outside of Asia we rarely use bamboo flooring and instead cut down our old growth forests that take so much longer to grow.
Load More Replies... #15
Although the ancient Egyptians were the first to chronicle the technique of making herbal wine some 5,000 years ago, archaeologists have discovered evidence that grapes were grown to make wine in the Caucasus (modern-day Georgia) about 8,000 years ago.
#16
The name of the pineapple came from European explorers who thought it had apple-like flesh and the appearance of a pinecone. The only edible members of the bromeliad family are pineapples.
Nilsen 2 years ago
As long as it's roundish: pommes de terre and pomodoro
Load More Replies... kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
I would probably have named it Frighteningly Acidic Yellow Fruit.
#17
Oleander (Nerium oleander), a lovely flowering shrub that is endemic to the Mediterranean, is deadly in all forms. The effects of ingesting oleander leaves on the cardiovascular, neurological, and gastrointestinal systems can be fatal.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
Haiku: Oleander’s deadly, we also call it fatal, raven swoops on mouse
#18
La Fete du Muguet, or the festival of the lily-of-the-valley, is celebrated in France on May 1. On the occasion, loved ones are given flower bouquets with wishes for their health and happiness.
Little L 2 years ago
Wash your hands after you pick them though and don't touch your eyes, they are poisonous and it will really hurt!
Mindy Keys 2 years ago
My Gran used to always celebrate May Day by making little pretty colored paper cones she filled with flowers and tied with twine on hung her friends' doors. When I was little I loved to be the one to sneak up to the door to hang the little cone! (And this was in Ohio, USA). I guess she brought the idea with her from her mum who was from Europe.
#19
A carnivorous plant native to the Philippines can 'eat' a full-size rat! Our advice - keep your fingers to yourself when near it.
SkyBlueandBlack 2 years ago
That plant is not the Venus flytrap (pictured), which is native to the Carolinas. The one in the Philippines is Nepenthes, a type of pitcher plant.
Truth Speakin' 2 years ago
Don't believe that's a pitcher plant...pretty sure a fly trap
Load More Replies... 
Claudia Vosper 2 years ago
https://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-08/newly-discovered-plant-species-eats-rats-named-after-famous-naturalist/?amp
#20
Crocus sativus, a species of fall-blooming crocus, is used to produce saffron, a spice used in Mediterranean cuisine.
#21
Banana is an Arabic word for fingers. Finger food, anyone?
Mirabelle Skyrim 2 years ago
When I visited Egypt in 1992, the bananas you could buy in markets were green (but still ripe) and much smaller than yellow bananas.
#22
There are about 70,000 plant species that are used for therapeutic purposes.
WindySwede 2 years ago
truffle, shuffle, buffle? (Just a lil wordplay but turned out indecipherable?)
Load More Replies...
#23
Some plants are self-pollinators. They move the pollen grains from the anther to the stigma on the same flower. These plants can reproduce without the aid of pollinators like insects. Self-pollination occurs in very few plants. Peanuts, orchids, peas, and sunflowers are a few examples.
StrangeOne 2 years ago
Orchid middles look like someone who spilt Cheeto powder and is saying "Nooooo not my precious cheesy powder." That, or a d**k and... I'll stop there XD
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
If you’re ever called on your phone by a panther, don’t anther.
#24
Carrots were originally purple rather than orange. Its new color is the product of human hybridization over many centuries.
Chewie Baron 2 years ago
Mainly by the Dutch to honour their Royal Family who are know as the House of Orange-Nassau.
Collin Lyle 2 years ago
I like the flavor of purple carrots better than orange. Kind of a smoother flavor.
#25
Brazil got its name in honor of a tree! Brazil is a contraction of Terra do Brasil, or "Country of Brazil," which refers to the brazilwood tree. The term was given to the areas that were leased to the merchant group headed by Ferno de Loronha in the early 16th century to exploit brazilwood for the purpose of producing wood dyes for the European textile industry.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
Argentina was founded by two best friends named Marge and Tina!
#26
Plants may not have noses, but they use chemicals in the air to sense their surroundings. Dodder is a parasitic plant that adheres to other plants and feeds on their sap for nutrition. Yet, it can "smell" other plants instead of growing aimlessly in search of something edible. Dodder can feel which plants are healthier and so better able to supply nutrition, choosing tomatoes over wheat as its favorite food.
WindySwede 2 years ago
Some(?) can also sense when neighbours are being attacked by insects and take precautions against them.
DonnerDinnerParty 2 years ago
It's pheromones! Grass warns surrounding plants when it's getting cut
#27
The wishbone flower is a shade-loving annual plant called Torenia. Watch for small stamens in purple, blue, or burgundy petals that resemble wishbones.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
Little kids the world over love to rip this flower in half whilst wishing for things.
#28
Tulips were so expensive in Holland during the 1600s that the value of their bulbs exceeded that of gold. Tulip mania, also known as tulipomania, was the craze that contributed to the collapse of the Dutch economy.
SkyBlueandBlack 2 years ago
It's one of those instances where the myth has taken the place of fact.
#29
The titan arum flower (Amorphophallus titanium), which can grow up to 15 feet tall, is the world's biggest unbranched bloom. The bloom has a smell comparable to that of rotting meat, therefore the common name "corpse flower." Another plant from the Sumatran rainforests, the Rafflesia, has a similar scent. As they don't compete with other blooms for butterflies and hummingbirds, both developed their aroma to draw pollinating flies.
StrangeOne 2 years ago
The Rafflesia is a actually a parasite plant. It's seeds latch onto tree roots and grow. I think it does something to the tree, like steal nutrients or make it sick. Something like that.
DonnerDinnerParty 2 years ago
I've always assumed this was the plant that Mr. Wilson had waited for so long to bloom in "Dennis the Menace" 🤷🏻♀️
#30
The longest-living creatures on earth are trees!
Sandra Ayers 2 years ago
Sharks are older than trees. They might be the oldest land species, but not the overall oldest on earth.
#31
As cucumber has seeds in the middle, it is a fruit and not a vegetable.
WindySwede 2 years ago
Aren't cucumbers also a berry? All things with seeds are fruits?
Load More Replies... #32
The vanilla flavor is extracted from the pod of the Vanilla planifolia orchid. Although the pods are known as vanilla beans, corn is more closely related vegetable.
Skeptical newt 2 years ago
I'm confused, corn is more closely related to vanilla as compared to what?
#33
The African baobab tree's trunk can hold between 1000 and 120,000 liters of water.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
But just like cactus water it should never be consumed by humans or terrible, terrible things may transpire.
#34
Being natural sedatives, onions might make you sleepy if you eat too many at once.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
This is why a cup of warm milk with an onion floating in it is always recommended for troubled sleepers.
#35
Certain plants, like moss and ferns, don't produce flowers or seeds. They create spores to replicate.
Chewie Baron 2 years ago
There was a very interesting (well, to me at least) story about two species of fern that had been discovered to have reproduced with each other. But the two species had diverted so long ago on their line of evolution that it was the equivalent of a human reproducing with a fish.
#36
In recognition of the role A. W. Livingston of Reynoldsburg had in making the tomato popular in the late 1800s, tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio.
Phoenix(or nix)they/them 2 years ago
No. We have snow atm in Ohio, and we don't need another stupid thing like this. Only in Ohio 😩🤚
#37
There are 200 seeds on a strawberry. It is the only fruit with seeds that are visible on the exterior.
Lisa Lolo 2 years ago (edited)
The red part isn't the actual fruit, but an engorged flower base. All the green seedlike things are the actual fruits. You can sometimes still see the part of the pistil attached to the fruit. So... You can't see the seeds. They are inside the green tiny fruits.
WindySwede 2 years ago
That's what I remembered reading somewhere. Thanks for clearing things up. That's why it's good not to use BP for citation!
Load More Replies...
#38
Tree resin, also known as amber, frequently contains trapped plant matter or microscopic insects.
WindySwede 2 years ago
And also that the only one you got on your side is the blood-sucking lawyer!
Load More Replies... kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
Amber with insects and spiders trapped inside of it sell for a premium. If a hunk of amber is ever discovered with an entire prehistoric human inside of it, that would probably make it onto the news.
#39
At a diameter of 0.004-0.008 inches, Asian watermeal (Wolffia globosa) is the tiniest flowering plant in existence.
#40
A eucalyptus from Australia stood as the tallest tree ever - over 60 m.
SkyBlueandBlack 2 years ago
115.92 meters. That's the tallest tree ever -- a coastal redwood in California.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
But the Australian tree can kill you at 1,000 meters with one flick of its venomous branch.
Load More Replies... #41
Native to Mexico, poinsettias were introduced to US by Joel Poinsett, the first American minister to Mexico, in 1825.
Skeptical newt 2 years ago
The red flowers are actually colored leaves and the true flowers are in the middle small and yellow.
#42
The scientific term for blooming plants, angiosperm, describes the seeds as being carried in capsules or fruits. Gymnosperms are non-flowering plants like pine, spruce, fir, juniper, larches, cycads, and ginkgo.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
Both terms contain the word Sperm, which is also a type of whale.
#43
Oak trees get struck by lightning most often!
#44
Half the oxygen in the atmosphere comes from the Amazon jungle!
Pedantic Panda 2 years ago
Not sure about this one, "According to National Geographic, about 70% of the oxygen in the atmosphere comes from marine plants and plant-like organisms."
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
So 70% from algae and the other half from the Amazon. See? Everybody’s correct.
Load More Replies... #45
The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), which grows along the United States' Pacific Coast, primarily in California, is the tallest tree in the world. It's interesting to note that a bristlecone pine holds the record for the oldest-growing tree in the world (Pinus aristata).
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
According to a prominent Lithuanian website, BOTH of these trees are the absolute tallest in the world!
Load More Replies...
#46
Avocados and pumpkins are considered fruits, not vegetables, from a botanical perspective since they contain plant seeds.
Stardust she/her 2 years ago
I mean, anything that contains seeds and comes out of a flower is technically a fruit.
Dogcat vet (retired) 2 years ago
Seedless watermelons just have little tiny soft seeds (at least the ones we get out here)
#47
When you pinch the sides of a Snapdragon flower that resembles a dragon, the dragon's mouth will seem to open and close.
Skeptical newt 2 years ago
I still do it when I see them and sing a lil opera.
Load More Replies...
#48
One of the top six economically significant crop plant families is the rose family which includes apples, pears, peaches, apricots, quinces, strawberries, and pears.
#49
If you cry when you cut an onion, sulfuric chemicals are to fault. The National Onion Association claims that freezing the onion and slicing the root end last help to solve the issue.
Dogcat vet (retired) 2 years ago
leave one end uncut and cut the other side reduces the issue also
#50
Known plant species number over 300,000 with the count still growing!
#52
Apple consists of 84% water!
Pedantic Panda 2 years ago (edited)
I don't think apples contain any oranges.
Load More Replies... #53
Several plants are employed as dyes. Tea bags, walnut juice, or stewed onion skin can all be used to dye fabric.
Gabby M 2 years ago
An old tradition for Easter in my family (Armenian) is dark yellow onion skins to color and an egg cracking competition after dinner. One person holds an egg in their hand leaving enough surface to be cracked by another egg held by another person. The winner is the one with the uncracked eggshell in the end. My grandfather always cheated. We don't know how but damn if he didn't win almost every year lol. Then let the egg salad begin.
Mia Black 2 years ago
My family does this too. My grandparents are German Latvian and lived a short time in a part of now Poland. I don't know where they have the tradition from. We use old bedsheets and cut them in handkerchief size ( they get reused decades), then put slightly crumpled onion skin ( the crunchy outer layer) in the middle, a few rice grains and an egg in this nes ( your can also put leaves with water on the egg, to hopefully create a sweet decor), then close the fabric around this egg onion skin arrangement tightly. Cook in water with some acid and salt. The final eggs all have a different marble like brown yellow colour afterwards. We all use different yarn colliers to close our packages so everyone can unpack the own eggs. Always fun, even with over 30yrs. When the eggs are cold, rubb them with butter for shine and more durability.
Load More Replies... Mirabelle Skyrim 2 years ago
And to dye Easter eggs. If you first draw a pattern of wax on boiled eggs before putting them in the liquid of your chouice, you can then rub off the wax after the shell has dried to create the pattern.
#54
Garlic mustard is, in fact, a member of the mustard family, not garlic! In the Eastern and Midwestern United States, this invasive herb outcompetes native plants, endangering other native plants and the species that depend on them.
Nikki Sevven 2 years ago
You can eat it, but if you find it growing in your yard, you should kill it. It spreads faster than mint and crowds out native plants.
Load More Replies...
#55
Peanuts are legumes related to beans and lentils, not nuts. According to the National Peanut Board, they are the only nut with greater protein, niacin, folate, and phytosterols.
#56
Midges are necessary for the pollination of the cocoa plant, which may make them seem a little less irritating.
kitten levels tokyo 2 years ago
The fact that cocoa plants look like vomited marshmallows inside a blotchy gourd shows you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.
#57
Aquatic plants are those that can survive underwater.
Stardust she/her 2 years ago
It’s literally in the name! It’s like saying “popcorn is corn that it popped, mindblowing”
Bill McDowall 2 years ago
Woa! Back up there Poindexter, popcorn is what.......
Load More Replies... Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
Stardust she/her 2 years ago
Fun fact: potatos are part of the Solanaceae family which also includes deadly nightshade, tomatos, several types of peppers etc.
Stardust she/her 2 years ago
Fun fact: potatos are part of the Solanaceae family which also includes deadly nightshade, tomatos, several types of peppers etc.
You May Like "Vatican City Has The Highest Crime Rate In The World": 49 Nonsense-Sounding Statements That Turned Out To Be True “Depression Levels Correlate With Intelligence”: 48 Facts People Wish They Didn’t Know If You Like Learning The Bizarre Facts From History, Here Are 45 Really Unexpected Ones
Gabija Palšytė
Ieva Pečiulytė
Ieva Pečiulytė
Related on Bored Panda
