14 Amazing Plants and Their Unique Characteristics

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia

1. Dama de Noche (Cestrum)



Dama de noche blooms at night and closes during the day. This species is grown as ornamental plants for its strongly scented flowers.

2. Acacia



Acacia leaves are horizontal during the day and droop and close at night. Acacias are also known as thorn trees or wattles, including the yellow-fever acacia and umbrella acacias.

3. Maple Tree (Acer saccharum - Sugar Maple)



A maple tree yields 2 pounds of sugar a year and can be productive for a century. It is the national tree of Canada. Maples can also be used for furniture, veneers, floorings, shoe lasts, tool handles and musical instruments.

4. Makahiya or Sensitive Plant (Mimosa Pudica)



Mimosa pudica or makahiya's leaflets respond almost instantly to touch heat or wind by folding up and at the same time the petiole droop. The leaves recover after about 15 minutes.

5. Raffia Palm (Raphia)



Raffia palm a native to tropical Africa has the largest leaves in the world which can grow as long as 80 ft.

6. Edible Plants

There are 30,000 species of edible plants in the world. But just 20 of them, including corn, rice, and wheat provide 90% of the world's food.

7. Pitfall Traps

   • Splendid Pitcher Plant (Nepenthes Edwardsiana)

   

   It is perhaps the most spectacular of all Nepenthes, producing some of the largest pitchers

   • Nepenthes Rajah

   

   Nepenthes rajah is presently considered as the largest carnivorous plant with the largest known traps. It produces pitchers up to 35 cm (14 inches) in height and will sometimes consume small mammals like rats and other animals like frogs, lizards, even birds. Insects comprise majority of the prey in both aerial and terrestrial pitchers. It is endemic to Mount Kinabalu and neighboring Mount Tambuyukon in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

Pitfall traps - the prey falls into rolled leaf that contains a pool of digestive enzymes and /or bacteria at the bottom.

8. Flypaper Traps

   • Butterwort (Pinguicula)

   

   • Sundews (Drosera)

   

   Flypaper traps use glue-like substance to hold onto unsuspecting insects. This genus use sticky, glandular leaves to lure, trap, and digest insects in order to supplement the poor mineral nutrition they obtain from the environments.

9. Snap Traps

   • Venus Flytraps (Dionaea Muscipula)

   

   The snap traps of Dionaea muscipula close rapidly when triggered to trap prey between two lobes.

   • Waterwheel plant (Aldrovanda Vesiculosa)

   

Snap traps has leaves that actually snap shut to create a plant prison.

10. Bladderwort (Utricularia)

    

Bladderwort is a kind of bladder traps use a bladder to suck in aquatic creatures.

11. Corkscrew Plant (Genlisea Violacea)



Corkscrew plant is a kind of lobster-pot traps use inward-pointing hairs/bristles to force prey toward digestive enzymes.

12. Potatoes (Solanum Tuberosum)



Scientists recently traced the origins of all the world's farmed potatoes to southern Peru.

13. Giant Kelp (Macrosystis Pyrifera)



Giant kelp looks like a kind of seaweed, but it is in fact the largest-known kind of algae. It grows in very long strands up to 65 m in length, and is fastened to the seabed with a root-like organ called a holdfast.

14. Rafflesia



Rafflesia bears the largest flower of any known plant often reaches a length of 18 in. across and a weight of 15 pounds (6.8 kg). The flower is globe-shaped and is the only portion of the plant visible.