Creepy, Spooky Plants for your Halloween- Part: 2

The candy should be bought by now and the costumes chosen. I hope reading part one educated you and inspired you to like and enjoy a plant you never existed before. Read on now to learn about another 25 plants with equal uniqueness and strange characteristics.

Happy Alien Flowers

> Scientific name: Calceolaria uniflora

> Main habitat: South America

Calceolaria uniflora is an ornithophilic plant and is pollinated by the least seedsnipe. The seedsnipe eats the conspicuous white floral appendage on the lower lip of the flower, which is high in sugars. While the seedsnipe pecks at this appendage, the stigma and anthers of the flower tap the head and back of the seedsnipe distributing and receiving pollen, ensuring that pollen will be transferred to the next Calceolaria unifora that is visited by the seedsnipe.

Hemlock

> Scientific name: Conium maculatum

> Main habitat: Europe and North Africa

All parts of the plant are toxic, especially the seeds and roots, and especially when ingested. Under the right conditions the plant grows quite rapidly during the growing season and can reach heights of 8 feet (2.4 m), with a long penetrating root. The plant has a distinctive odor usually considered unpleasant that carries with the wind. The hollow stems are usually spotted with a dark maroon color before the plant dies and becomes dry and brown after completing its biennial lifecycle.

Hooker’s lips

> Scientific name: Psychotria elata

> Main habitat: Central and South America

Cinephiles might think the hooker’s lips flower looks like the advertisement for the cult classic film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The “lips” are actually leaf-like, not petals, and only resemble lips for several days after they open. Once they do open, the plant displays minute yellow and white flowers. The unique character of the flower has made them popular, and because their habitat is under threat from deforestation, they are becoming rarer.

Jackal Food

> Scientific name: Hydnora africana

> Main habitat: Southern Africa

The hydnora looks like a refugee from a sci-fi movie, except that it is found on Earth, specifically in southern Africa. It’s a parasite that latches on to the roots of other species and grows entirely underground except for the flower. The hydnora emits a smell similar to feces that attracts beetles, which the plant traps but does not kill. It holds the beetles until the flower is mature and then releases them.

Japanese blood grass

> Scientific name: Imperata cylindrica

> Main habitat: Asia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, Africa, and southern Europe. It has also been introduced to Latin America, the Caribbean, and the southeastern United States.

It is planted extensively for ground cover and soil stabilization near beach areas and other areas subject to erosion. Other uses include papermaking, thatching and weaving into mats and bags. It is used in traditional Chinese medicine.

A number of cultivars have been selected for garden use as ornamental plants, including the red-leaved ‘Red Baron’, also known as Japanese blood grass.

Japanese umbrella pine

> Scientific name: Sciadopitys verticillata

> Main habitat: Japan

The Japanese umbrella pine is one of the world’s oldest plants — its fossil history goes back 230 million years. It is an unusual tree in that it has no closely related species. The plant is indigenous to Japan and is grown as a decorative plant for gardens. The conifer is rare and highly prized. It can take up to 100 years to reach a mature height of 30 feet. The Japanese umbrella pine is considered a sacred tree in Japan and is closely associated with the Buddhist faith.

Jellyfish tree

> Scientific name: Medusagyne oppositifolia

> Main habitat: Seychelles island of Mahe

The jellyfish tree gets its name from the shape of its fruit, which resembles a jellyfish when the fruit is broken open. Scientists thought the tree was extinct and no specimen was observed in its native Seychelles until it was rediscovered in 1970. It is a rare plant, and as of 2016, there were fewer than 100 jellyfish trees remaining. The IUCN considers the plant critically endangered because it is threatened by human activity.

Monkey face orchid

> Scientific name: Dracula simia

> Main habitat: Southeastern Ecuador and Peru

The center of this exotic flower looks strikingly like our simian relatives, so the scientific name of Dracula simia is appropriate. Adding to the effect is the elongated petals of the plant. The plant’s aroma suggests oranges when it blooms, which can occur during any season. The monkey face orchid can be found at higher altitudes in Ecuador and Peru.

Naked man orchid

> Scientific name: Orchis italica

> Main habitat: Morocco to Lebanon

This orchid resembles a human male, sans clothes, and can be found in the Mediterranean region, particularly along the coast. The orchid can grow to a height of just over 1.5 feet. Its most common colors are light purple and pink, though white specimens have been found. Like many flowers on this list, the flower is under threat possibly because of their overuse as a medicine.

Porcupine tomato

> Scientific name: Solanum pyracanthos

> Main habitat: Madagascar and islands in western Indian Ocean

The porcupine tomato, a weed covered in large, spiky, orange-colored poisonous thorns found in Madagascar and on islands in the western part of the Indian Ocean. Bushes of this weed can grow up to 5 feet. All of the plant is potentially dangerous to humans because of its toxins.

Purple pitcher plant

> Scientific name: Sarracenia purpurea

> Main habitat: Across Canada, Alaska, the Great Lakes and Gulf Coast regions of the U.S.

You don’t necessarily think of Canada as home to many carnivorous plants, yet there are 18 such species found in the Great White North, and the purple pitcher plant is one of them. Insects are trapped inside the plant after they slide down the plant’s slimy innards by small hairs tilted downward inside the plant. Once inside the plant, the creature drowns in water and is consumed by the plant.

Scale Tree

> Scientific name: Lepidodendrons

> Main habitat: Prehistoric swamp areas

Also known as the scale tree, the Lepidodendron was Earth’s dominant plant species during the Carboniferous Period, from about 359 million to about 299 million years ago. The trees grew close together and reproduced by use of spores. The planet was experiencing elevated levels of oxygen at that time, which meant plants grew at an accelerated rate. The scale tree grew to 130 feet high and lived for up to 15 years.

Rat-eating pitcher plant

> Scientific name: Nepenthes attenboroughii

> Main habitat: The Philippines

Discovered in 2007, the rat-eating pitcher plant is among the more recent plants discovered. It is also one of the weirdest of the carnivorous plants, believed to be the largest meat-eating plant in the world. As its name suggests, it is capable of digesting rats. The 4-foot tall pitcher-shaped plant lures the creatures with its nectar, and when the animal leans into the plant to drink the liquid, it tumbles into the pitcher’s waxy interior and is trapped by the sap. Acid-like juices then dissolve the animal. Scientists found the plant on Mount Victoria in the Philippines, and the scientific name — Nepenthes attenboroughii — comes from renowned nature broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

Sea Urchin or Baseball plant

> Scientific name: Euphorbia obesa

> Main habitat: South Africa

In the wild it is endangered because of over-collection and poaching, combined with its slow growth, and the fact that the pod contains only 2 to 3 seeds. However, it is widely cultivated in botanical gardens.

Euphorbia obesa resembles a ball, thornless and decorative. It is commonly known as ‘baseball plant’ due to its shape. Its diameter is between 6 cm and 15 cm depending on its age. Young plants are spherical, but become cylindrical with age. They contain water reservoirs for periods of drought.

Sensitive plant

> Scientific name: Mimosa pudica

> Main habitat: South and Central America

The sensitive plant, found in South and Central America, has pink blossoms and fern-like leaves, and is a bit shy. If you touch it, the leaves fold up in a defensive reaction. That’s because when the plant is touched, the stems secrete chemicals that force water out from its cells, which collapses the leaves. Scientists believe this is an evolutionary trait designed to thwart predators.

Strangler fig

> Scientific name: Ficus

> Main habitat: Australia

The strangler fig, described by Science magazine as a “parasitic nightmare,” lives up to its name. The plant can be found in Australia and can grow upward and downward on its host. When the fig grows downward, it robs its host, usually a living tree, of its nutrients. When the fig grows upward, its leaves block sunlight from reaching the host. The strangler fig can outlive the host tree by years.

Suicide palm

> Scientific name: Tahina spectabilis

> Main habitat: Madagascar

One of the more recent plant discoveries is the suicide palm. It was found in 2005 in Madagascar by Xavier Metz, a Frenchman who manages a cashew plantation there. The tree grows to 60 feet in height, has leaves that span 16 feet, and lives for 50 years. Only 90 of the trees can be found in the wild. The plant gets its name from how it meets its demise. At the end of its life, the stem tips explode in a massive show of tiny flowers capable of being pollinated and developing into fruit. The nectar from the plant draws insects and birds. However, the colorful exposition exhausts the plant, draining its nutritional supply, and it dies.

Swaddled babies

> Scientific name: Anguloa uniflora

> Main habitat: Andes region of South America

This orchid was found in the Andes Mountains in the late 18th century. It resembles infants wrapped in blankets inside of the plant when the flower blooms. The flower with creamy white petals, which also goes by the name of tulip orchid, grows to about 2 feet in height and gives off a cinnamon scent.

Vegetable Sheep

> Scientific name: Raoulia

> Main habitat: New Zeland

They are large shrubs that present the appearance of a sheeps because their surface is covered in many, small, very woolly leaves packed as tightly as possible. This cushion is an adaptation to the high alpine habitat that maintains warmth and protects the plant from a weighty snowpack, and the carpet of hair-like trichomes on the leaves are reflective as well as insulating.

Velvet Bean

> Scientific name: Mucuna pruriens

> Main habitat: Africa and Tropical Asia

Mucuna pruriens is a tropical legume native to Africa and tropical Asia and widely naturalized and cultivated. The plant is notorious for the extreme itchiness it produces on contact,particularly with the young foliage and the seed pods. It also produces many medium-sized red swollen bumps along with the itching. It has agricultural and horticultural value and is used in herbalism.

Venus flytrap

> Scientific name: Dionaea muscipula

> Main habitat: East coast United States

It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping structure formed by the terminal portion of each of the plant’s leaves, which is triggered by tiny hairs (called “trigger hairs” or “sensitive hairs”) on their inner surfaces.

When an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts a hair, the trap prepares to close, snapping shut only if another contact occurs within approximately twenty seconds of the first strike. Triggers may occur with a tenth of a second of contact.

Welwitschia mirabilis

> Scientific name: Welwitschia mirabilis

> Main habitat: Namib Desert

The Welwitschia mirabilis, found in the harsh Namib Desert, is made up of two large leaves that grow from a short, thick trunk. The plant can grow to about 2 feet tall. Some plants have been known to live as long as 2,000 years.

Witches’ hair

> Scientific name: Cuscata

> Main habitat: Northern Europe

Cuscuta can be identified by its thin stems appearing leafless, with the leaves reduced to minute scales. In these respects it closely resembles the similarly parasitic, but unrelated genus, Cassytha. From mid-summer to early autumn, the vines can produce small fruit that take the same color as the vine, and are approximately the size of a common pea. Also called Dodder, After a dodder attaches itself to a plant, it wraps itself around it. If the host contains food beneficial to dodder, the dodder produces haustoria that insert themselves into the vascular system of the host. The original root of the dodder in the soil then dies. The dodder can grow and attach itself to multiple plants. In tropical areas, it can grow more or less continuously and may reach high into the canopy of shrubs and trees;

Wolf’s bane

> Scientific name: Aconitum

> Main habitat: North America, Europe, Asia

Aconitum comes from the Greek akon for dart or javelin, the tips of which were poisoned with the substance, or from akonae, because of the rocky ground on which the plant was thought to grow. The Greek name lycoctonum, which translates literally to “wolf’s bane”, is thought to indicate the use of its juice to poison arrows or baits used to kill wolves. Aconitum flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bumblebees.

Trick or Treat! Lots of plants with STRANGE things about them but as a plant collector I would gladly take any of them.

#creepyplants #halloween #unquieplants