7 Spectacular Plants

So many people only know the basic plants that flit through their local nursery, which unfortunately, is generally the stock standard stuff.

 

But did you know there are over 350,000 known plant species in the world!

Each weird, wacky and wonderful in their own way.

So let's get down to it.

1. Baobab grandidiers

Credit - World of Succulents

This is the very top of my bucket list, what a mighty and incredibly beautiful plant!

These trees grow up to 30m tall and up to 3m wide, they are simply stunning.

These trees provide homes for vast arrays of wildlife, and incredible amounts of resources for humans, from ropes and glues to materials and food.

2. Sinningia leucotricha

Credit - Pinterest

I feel so very privileged to own one of these Brazilian beauties. 

A hardy succulent, they have stunning fuzzy, lambs ear like foliage, with long, tubular, coral flowers, and a bulbous, woody looking base reaching up to 30cm across.

3. Hydnora africana

Credit - INaturalist.com

This is a most unusual, parasitic plant, with no roots, leaves or chlorophyll. All bar its flower, it lives completely underground,  feeding from the juices of the Euphorbia species.

It has developed a specialised flower that smells like faeces to attract bugs that will then be trapped and held captive, crawling around and ensuring pollen is stuck to them for pollination.

4. Vegetable Sheep

Credit- How It Works

Now isn't this unusual and spectacular!

In the heights of New Zealand's mountains lays the Raoulia. Looking like a sheep resting, this plant is covered in 'wooly' leaves, adapted to living in tough conditions.

Dead leaves rot down and provide this curiosity with much needed warmth and moisture.

5. Eucalyptus deglupta

Credit - Wikimedia Commons

Sporting purple, green, red and orange bark, this is a magnificent t tree! The colours taking on an even more striking vibrancy when the pattern patter rain begins.

This incredible living art easily reaches 76 meters tall!

6. Mimosa pudica 

Credit - Australian Geographic

Touch-me-not! This little plant has a remarkable little trick,  if you touch its little leaves, they recoil, stack and droop, exposing prickly, slender stems and hiding its delicate leaves.

This plant is well worth a further read!

7. Dragon's Blood Tree

Credit - Escapeartist.com

So named because of this stunning trees incredibly blood red sap! The sap and resin has been used throughout history for medicines, cosmetics, dyes and varnishes. Plus it's shaped like a giant mushroom!

This is quite literally the tip of the iceberg into the amazing and incredible plants that bless the planet.