Ten more interesting exotic plants

1. Dancing grass

The scientific name of dancing grass is "Desmodium Gyrans". The most bizarre feature of this plant is that its leaves dance up and down with temperature changes or music accompaniment, hence the name "dancing grass." When dancing plants are exposed to direct sunlight or in a warm environment, they will dance their leaves rapidly. When the music plays, the dancing grass will also react in some ways. At the root of each Dancing Grass leaf, there is a structure equivalent to a hinge device around which the leaves can rotate along an elliptical path.

2. Snakehead Fungus

It looks so disgusting! The scientific name of the snakehead fungus is "Mutinus Caninus", which can be called the ugliest fungus. The stipe of the snakehead fungus is cylindrical, the cap is bright red, and the top of the cap has sticky spores with a foul smell.

3. Aristolochia grandiflora

The scientific name of Aristolochia grandiflora is "Aristolochia grandiflora". The peculiarity of this plant is their beautiful and bizarre flowers. The main part of the flower has only one piece, which looks like a huge, textured pocket, rather than having symmetrical petals like ordinary flowers. Viewers must not get too close to it, otherwise the smell of dead mice will linger around you for hours. However, although Aristolochia grandis emits the smell of dead mice, they do not eat mice like Nepenthes giantus. Their smell is just used to attract pollinators to help them pollinate.

4. Mimosa

Everyone knows this! The scientific name of Mimosa pudica is "Mimosa pudica". The starry pink flowers in the picture are the flowers of Mimosa pudica, and the lower part of the picture is its leaves. When people touch it with their hands, or even just blow on it, its leaves will shrink, as if they are frightened and trying to protect themselves. When mimosa plants are disturbed, their stems release a chemical. This chemical forces water out of the cells, making the leaves look shrunken. Scientists have yet to find a clear answer as to why Mimosa pudica evolved this characteristic, but they believe it may be used to intimidate predators.

5. African Egret Flower

This looks like an alien plant! The scientific name of the African egret flower is "Hydnora africana". This plant is a parasitic plant native to southern Africa that often lives on the roots of other species. Their flowers grow underground or above ground. The flower growing above the ground in the picture looks like a blind sea snake, opening its mouth to the outside world. The most peculiar thing about the African egret flower is not only its appearance, but also its smell. This smell is like the stench of feces, which is very unpleasant. They use the odor to attract pollinators such as carrion beetles to help them pollinate.

6. Parachute flower

Some people have this plant at home. The scientific name of the parachute flower is "Ceropegia woodii". The flowers of this strange plant are in the shape of a parachute, with the inner petals connected to the surroundings like filaments, and the center of the flower looks like a fluffy lollipop sticking out from the inside. The entire flower gathers up to form a tube, with many tiny hairs extending outward from the edge. When an insect is attracted by the scent of the flower, it will be wrapped in the tube and become a nutritious meal for the parachute flower. However, parachute flowers never eat flies. When a fly comes, the parachute flower wraps it in the flower until the hairs finally loosen and the fly can escape. When the fly flies away, it takes the parachute flower's pollen with it. Flies are just tools for their pollination.

7. White Star Alocasia

The scientific name of White Star Alocasia is "Helicodiceros muscivorus". The plant has huge flowers and releases a foul smell of rotting flesh. This scent attracts large female flies to pollinate them. When large flies land on them, they trap them in their huge flowers and trap them there all night long. The next day, the white star calla lily will open its flowers and release the big flies covered with pollen. When the big fly flies over the second white star calla lily flower, the pollination task is completed.

8. Insect-catching pansy

Can’t you see that it can also catch insects? The scientific name of the insect-catching pansy is "Pinguicula gigantea". This plant is a classic opportunist, clinging to any insect that lands on the surface of their leaves and immediately beginning to digest the prey. The upper surface of the insect-catching viola is covered with a layer of sticky digestive enzymes. This digestive enzyme can not only stick to and digest prey such as mosquitoes and insects, but also absorb nutrients from the pollen carried by these insects.

9. Giant pitcher plant

Nepenthes is originally a strange carnivorous plant, and the pitcher plant that can eat mice is the weirdest representative among them. The scientific name of the mouse-eating pitcher plant is "Nepenthes attenboroughii", which was discovered in August 2009. It is considered the largest carnivorous plant in the world and their cage can even swallow a mouse. Scientists discovered this plant on Mount Victoria in the Philippines. The plant is able to digest prey through acid enzymes inside its pitcher-shaped leaves. Its pitcher-shaped leaves are about 30 cm long and 16 cm wide, twice the size of common pitcher plants found in other regions.

10. Wood Cycad

The scientific name of Wood Cycad is "Encephalartos woodii". This is one of the rarest plants in the world and has been listed as extinct in the wild. The only wild wood cycad found in the world is located on a slope on the edge of South Africa's Noye Forest. Currently, the wood cycad is virtually extinct because it is a dioecious plant, and all living wood cycads in botanic gardens are male. Scientists began to try to cross them with their closest relatives, hoping to create new seedlings of Wood Cycads that would reproduce pure Wood Cycads in three generations.