World

Nature Trivia | 100 facts & trivia about plants and flowers (part 1)

Flowers are very beautiful and thus are commonly used to decorate spaces in our house or in our office.

Let’s find out more about them!

A flower is a reproductive structure found in flowering plants.
These are the plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms.
Flowers are sometimes known as a bloom or blossom.
The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction.
This happens usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs.
Flowers may facilitate outcrossing resulting from cross-pollination or allow selfing when self-pollination occurs.
Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization
This is called parthenocarpy.
Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop.
Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen.
Famous insects that “work” as pollinators are the bees.
After fertilization, the ovary of the flower develops into fruit containing seeds.
Flowers are also symbols and symbolize different things according to culture and religion.
Flowers are that flowers get their food from sunlight, water, and minerals in the soil, while plants take from photosynthesis.
Plants take in carbon dioxide, or CO², through little holes in their leaves, which are called stomata.
They then produce and release oxygen through the stomata.
Stomata mean mouths in Greek.
Animals need the oxygen that plants put out, and plants need the carbon dioxide that animals put out.
Many animals are herbivores, which means that basically eat plants or simply flowers.
The outside of a flower can be seen easily because of its petals.
On the outside part of the flower, there is the colored part of the flower, and the sepals, the small green structures that look like little petals at the base of the flower.
Inside a flower is the pistil, or the female parts of the flower.
The pistil looks like a vase with a long neck.
The top of this “vase” is called the stigma.
The long neck is called the style.
The bottom, fatter part of the vase is the ovary and contains the ovules or eggs.
Also inside the flower are the male parts of the flower, called the stamens.
The stamen consists of the anther and the filament.
The filament looks like a stiff, standing piece of string.
On top of the filament is a rounded ball of pollen called the anther.
The pollen is usually a bright yellow or orange color.
Flowers did not always exist, as they first appeared 140 million years ago.
Before their appearance, ferns and cone-bearing trees dominated the earth.
Several centuries ago in Holland, tulips were more valuable than gold.
Broccoli is actually a flower, even though is considered a vegetable.
Some plants do not need soil to grow as they get all of their nutrients from the air.
Examples of such flowers are the orchids.
Some plants produce toxic substances that kill other plants around them.
The sunflower is an example.
Just like animals, there are carnivorous plants.
They are flowering plants that eat bugs and small animals!
For example, the Venus flytrap has leaves covered by little hairs and when a bug lands on the hairs, the trap snaps shut and digestive juices digest the bug.
Other carnivorous plants have leaves that form pitchers that are full of digestive fluids.
Such flowers are the pitcher plants
Insects, frogs, and other small creatures are attracted to the nectar and bright colors on the pitchers and flowers.
Flowers are famous for their smell, and many of them are used in order to create fragrances.
Some others though smell terribly.
The world’s rarest, largest, smelliest, and the strangest looking flower is the titan arum or the corpse flower.
It is called the corpse flower because it smells like a rotting dead body.
The bloom is over 8 feet tall and 12 feet in circumference.
They smell like rotting flesh in order to attract flies.
Flies are their favorite pollinator.
People have been known to pass out from the smell. Well, not so pleasant smell!
The largest Flower in the world is the flower of the Puya raimondii.
It has a flower stalk 35,000 feet tall and bears over 8,000 flowers.
Its flowers are white!
Mimosa punica, or sensitive plant, will actually fold up its leaves when it is touched.
It has whitish pink fuzzy flowers that look like little pom-poms.
The Bird of Paradise is a beautiful, oddly shaped plant that resembles a colorful tropical bird.
Corkscrew vine flower, Vigna Caracalla, has a flower-shaped like nautilus shells.
Lunaria, or money plant, has purple flowers that turn into silver papery quarter shaped seedpods.
SnapDragon flowers look like little mouths. that can be used to play money or jewelry.
False dragonhead or obedient plant has a spike full of flowers that can be bent into any position you want.
Hollyhocks have large beautiful flowers that can be made into dolls.
Cherry blossom is Japan’s unofficial national flower.
The Yellow Chrysanthemum is considered the official national flower of Japan.
Seems that nobody can avoid stress- even plants and flowers feel stressed!
And what are they doing when they feel stressed? They scream!
Don’t worry, people can’t sense it!
Caelie Wilkes was watering a plant for 2 years. Then she realized it was a plastic one!
This became really viral since Caelie posted the news on Facebook.
It is a custom on the planet for people to make wreaths of flowers on the 1st of May.
Another flower custom that is happening in many countries of the world is that the brides are holding bouquets of flowers.
This tradition dates back to the 15th century when brides had a distinctive odor and flowers helped by covering it.
The world’s oldest living rose is believed to be 1,000 years old.
It grows on the wall of the Cathedral of Hildesheim in Germany and its presence is documented since A.D. 815
The world’s most expensive rose is a 2006 variety by famed rose breeder David Austin that was christened Juliet.
Breeding the rose took a total of 15 years and cost 5 million dollars.
Juliet is now considered the world’s most expensive rose cultivar.
There are no black roses.
What might sometimes be referred to as a black rose is actually a dark red rose.
For instance “The Black Rose of Turkey”, is a breed that appears pitch-black to the eye, but it actually has a dark reddish-crimson color.
The tallest ever recorded rose bush stands at over 23 feet (7 metres) tall.
There are over 100 species of the Rose.
The rose also grows into a fruit.
The fruit is called a Rose Hip and it is shaped like a berry.
The rosehip of some rose species is known to be full of vitamin C.
This is why the rosehip is sometimes used to create jam, jelly & marmalade.
Ancient Romans sometimes wore the flower as a necklace.
It was also believed in Roman circles that anything said “under the rose” was deemed to be top secret.
Back in 2002 a miniature rose, named “Overnight Scentsation”, was taken to space to assist in studies that aimed to show effects of low gravity on the smell of roses.
The study also aimed at learning how to improve the fragrances of a number of consumer products.
Cavriglia in Italy is the largest private rose garden in the world.
It has over 7,500 different varieties of roses.
The rose is one of the only three flowers mentioned in the Bible.
Since ancient days, the rose has been known as the ultimate symbol of love.
The rose is also associated with sympathy or sorrow.
Roses are commonly bought as gifts for anniversaries or during Valentine’s Day.
In ancient China, magnolias were thought to be the perfect symbols of womanly beauty and gentleness.
In the American South, white magnolias are commonly seen in bridal bouquets because the flowers are thought to reflect and emphasize the bride’s purity and nobility.