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50 Astonishing Plants That Seem Straight Out Of Science Fiction
I wonder if plant enthusiasts ever think: “There’s not enough drama in this green garden! I need to add a little pep to make it edgier.” The world of plants can be surprisingly colorful and exciting. At least that’s what I found out after scrolling through this list of unique and interesting-looking plants. Yes, some exotic plants might try (although very unsuccessfully) to eat you, others can smell like straight-up death.
There are also some plants you would never want to grow at home. Still, there’s so much interesting flora to be discovered even if you’re not a garden enthusiast. For this post, Bored Panda asked botany expert Douglas Justice and plant vlogger Ashley Anita to share some fascinating plant facts. Check out the unique plants below and let us know which ones look the most impressive to you!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
This Was Supposed To Be A Plant Progress Post Showing Off My Oxalis But Henk Stole The Show
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#2
Lithops Genus Of Succulent Plants Whose Rocklike Appearance Serves As Camouflage From Herbivores
#3
This Is A Flame Lily, The National Flower Of Zimbabwe
Gimme that Cash 3 years ago
Whoever decided this should be the national flower of Zimbabwe should get a raise.
#4
The Plant Crotalaria Cunninghamii Mimicks Birds
#5
My Echeveria Showing Me Some Love With Its Blooms
#6
Incredibly Unexpected Outcome From A $2 Succulent From The Local Grocery Store
#7
The Black Velvet, The World Blackest Black Flower. It Was Developed In 2010 Using Natural Breeding
#8
Buds Of A Hoya Wax Flower
#9
My Peperomia Letting Me Know She Appreciated The Love I Gave Her
#10
This Strange Plant We Found
#12
My Cactus Has Grown A Strange-Looking Flower
#13
This Extremely Long Plant In My Flat. It's 4 Floors Long
#14
My House Plant Looks Like It Came Straight From The Alien Franchise
#15
I Found A Baby Albino Oak In My Garden Some Years Ago, And Realized That Plants Can Be Albinos Too, But They Do Not Live Long Since They Cannot Photosynthesize
#16
Finally Got To Taste A Monstera Fruit! If You’re Wondering, To Me It Tastes Like Banana, Pineapple And Strawberry Combined
#17
Super Cool Flower In Mom's Garden. Lost The Tag. Any Thoughts On What This Is?
Manjula Sridhar 3 years ago
Passiflora, we call it Krishna Kamal in India. Also known as watch flower.
#18
Venus Fly Traps Have To Put Their Flowers Really Far Away From Their Traps So They Don't Accidentally Kill Their Pollinators
Sian Edwards 3 years ago
I actually got my Venus flytrap to flower once... and then it gave up the ghost. I may have overwatered it...
#19
Lapidaria Margaretae Looks Like Stones
#20
My White Princess Philodendron Finally Threw Out A Pink Leaf
#21
Flirty Fritillaries And Those Cheeky Checkered Petals. These Amazing Flowers Are Actually A Close Relation To Lilies That Are Growing Wild
#22
Once A Year, For One Night Only... The Flowers Bloom
Teresa Gustafsson 3 years ago
We had something similar when I grew up, it was called "Nattens Drottning", or Queen of the Night translated
#23
Trachyandra Tortilis
#24
The Way This Plant Flowers
#25
These Flowers That Are Almost Too Vibrant To Be Real
#26
Leaf Appreciation Post
#27
The Rare Purple Cauliflower. Its Signature Color Comes From The Same Antioxidant Found In Red Cabbage And Red Wine: Anthocyanin
#28
Zingiber Spectabile (Beehive Ginger) Is A Species Of True Ginger, Native To Maritime Southeast Asia
While it has been used as a medicinal herb in Southeast Asia, it is mainly grown as an ornamental plant in the West.
#29
The Inside Of This Tropical Pitcher Plant Looks Like A QR Code
#30
This Variegated Rubber Plant Looks Like It's Straight From The Eighties
#31
My Cactus Just Bloomed, And Its Flower Looks Like A Demogorgon
#32
I Have No Idea, But The Leaves Are Looking Awesome
#33
This Is What A Witch Hazel Flower Looks Like
#34
Happy Earth Day. The Craziest Flower I've Ever Seen. This Comes Out Of The Dirt. Let's Protect This Crazy Alien Flower
#35
Super Gorgeous Isn’t It?
Kevin the Manager 3 years ago
Yes! That is, until the whole thing starts shuffling towards you, making alien noises and sweating unnamable fluids.
#36
This Plant That Has Exactly Two Branches At Each Node
#37
Strange Round "Fruit" With Stringy Latexy Insides
🇳🇬 Asi Bassey 🇳🇬 3 years ago (edited)
I know this one. I saw lots of them growing up in northeast Nigeria. When cut open too soon they produce a white sap. If you leave them be they’ll rupture on their own and disperse seeds with white fluffy attachments, like an afro. The wind carries these seeds long distances because of the fluff. I never knew the name.
#38
Apparently, A Species Of Guarana Plant Looks Like A Large Cluster Of Eyeballs
#39
Dracula Simia. The Flowers Of This Andean Orchid Look Like Monkey Faces
#40
Same, Honestly
Kevin the Manager 3 years ago
I need a t-shirt with this phrase! It would save a lot of confusion and visits from the mortician...
#41
Desert Devil (Welwitschia Mirabilis)
David A Paterson 3 years ago
Very famous plant for some reason. Got it. "the oldest living Welwitschia mirabilis is believed to be nearly 2000 years old". Lives in the Namibian desert. Only ever has two leaves, which keep growing longer.
#42
Another Big Agave And My Doggo For Scale
Stephen Smith 3 years ago
Never cut down a Agave without protective clothing, sap is acid, I found out the hard way.
#43
A Flower I Once Found In A Garden Shop In Eastern Washington. Alas, I Have No Better Leaf Pictures
Feli Corvida 3 years ago
Cape daisy / african daisy (genus Osteospermum), they come in many different shapes and colours. I love them!
#44
A Snake Plant With 0% Chlorophyll
I moved my plastic barrel to tip the water off the top so that mosquitoes couldn't breed in it and I discovered a snake plant had been growing under it in complete darkness for all of its life.
#45
Plant In Our Office Is 4 Stories Tall
#46
Down By The Lake, There're These Weird Flowers Made Up Of Hundreds Of Tinier Flowers
#47
The Rings Of This Ponga Plant
#48
Strange Plant With Very Cool Berries And Seeds
#49
Kyoto Botanical Garden. The Flower Of Psychotria Pepiguiana. This Flower Looks Like A Lip
#50
Brassia Rex Is A Brassia Hybrid With Massive Flower Spikes Full Of Big Size Blooms That For Many People Look Like Spiders
#51
Wishlist Plant Achieved: Aglaonema Pictum Tricolor
Firstname Lastname 3 years ago
Was going to make a "what plant?" camo joke, but it's too nifty to not acknowledge how cool it looks
#53
This Plant I Saw On A Nature Walk Looks 3D-Ish
#54
Plant I Saw On My Walk Has Pleasant Geometry
Lispel- Lotte 3 years ago
Either I'm really tired or this plant is moving while I'm staring at it
#55
I Literally Jumped Up And Down Shouting At My Boyfriend To Get My Phone When I Saw My Huernia Zebrina Had Bloomed
#56
Tiny Skulls Are Left After My Snapdragon Flowers Die
#57
Found The Strangest Vine Growing On A Fence Just Off Melrose Today. Starts Out With Weird Pods That Look Totally Alien, Then Bloom Into These UFO Flowers
#58
These Plants Look Like Tiny Hands
#59
Saw These At A Floating Market In Bangkok. Not Even Sure If They're Plants? But It Was At A Plant Stand
#60
After 2 Weeks Of Development, This Monster Flower (Known As Carrion Flower) Finally Opened Up
#61
Century Plant Suddenly Bloomed, Looks Like An Alien Cactus Tree
#62
What Is This Thing? I Found A Lot Of These Under A Huge Tree. I Collected Some, I Hope They Aren't Poisonous
#63
The Welwitschia Mirabilis Leaves Grow An Average Of 2 Centimeters Per Year. We Are Guessing This Guy (Yes, They Are Either Male Or Female) Is Anything From 800 Years Old
#64
Cotyledon Orbiculata Variegated Cluster, Large Size
#65
Found In Sacramento, California
#66
This Plant Growing Along The Chains Of A Fence
#67
The Creeping Avens (Geum Reptans) Belongs To The Rose Family And Is Popularly Known As "Gletscher Petersbart"
#68
What Is This Weird Bird's-Nest-Looking Plant? Found In The Southeastern US, Alabama
#69
This Plant Is Preventing Itself From Blooming
#70
Found In Osage County, Oklahoma
#71
What Is This Forest Creature?
#72
Tree In My Neighborhood That I Have Been Wondering About
David A Paterson 3 years ago (edited)
I thought so. Prickly pear. But not the same prickly pear species that became a feral pest in Australia. To eat the prickly pear fruit, always wear gloves when picking it, then singe the fruit all over with fire before eating it. It's not the big spines that you have to watch out for, it's the fine needle like hairs between the spines.
#73
Jackal Food Or Hydnora Africana. It's A Parasite Plant That Dependent On Its Hosts To Survive. The Plant Grows Underground, But A Fleshy Flower Emerges Above The Ground
#74
Looking Like It Was Carved From Ebony, This Beautiful Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus Foetidus; Araceae) Fruit Turned Up Along Wetland Edge In Neus
Technically a multiple fruit derived from the fusion of many individual flowers (visible on the surface) embedded in a fleshy spadix.
#75
We’ve Lived Here For Over A Year, But This Plant Didn’t Grow Like This Before. Curious As To What It Is
#76
Strange Plant
#77
This Plant At My Grandma's House Growing At 2 Right Angles
#78
My Buddy From Portugal Sent Me This Photo. What Is This Tree?
#79
What Is This Seed Pod Thing That Is All Over The Ground Here In Upstate New York?
#80
Prickly Chayote Squash. This Was Given To Me By A Vietnamese Friend. They Grow At His Place In Puget Sound Area. He Told Me To Slice Them Thinly And Sauté In Butter
David A Paterson 3 years ago
In Australia it's called "choko". In Jamaica it's called "chocho". Very easy to grow and nice to eat as a vegetable. It grows on a vine, we had ours growing up a concrete breeze block wall.
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What do you think ?
The only Plueschopossum 3 years ago
The blossom of my sarracenia leucophylla definitely belongs to this list. Sadly, this plant is long-gone. I had it for many years and loved it dearly. Picture1-6...4dcd1d.jpg 
whaaaaaaaaaa 3 years ago
Very nice. Though it would've been better if you researched the names of these, I can't google most of them
The only Plueschopossum 3 years ago
The blossom of my sarracenia leucophylla definitely belongs to this list. Sadly, this plant is long-gone. I had it for many years and loved it dearly. Picture1-6...4dcd1d.jpg
whaaaaaaaaaa 3 years ago
Very nice. Though it would've been better if you researched the names of these, I can't google most of them
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