most beautiful but strange flowers

Most Beautiful but Strange Flowers

1. Swaddled Babies
The Angloua Uniflora is a beautiful orchid which is commonly known by the name, Swaddled Babies. The plant grows in the Columbian Andes. The most stunning feature of the plant is its flowers which are large, creamywhite and waxy. Their structure is quite complex, and at a certain stage of opening, they start to look like a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth. Each flower blooms from a single stem from the base of the pseudobulbs.
2. Hookers Lips
While many might consider it an exaggerated description, the Psychotria Elata, also called the Hookers Lips or Kissing Lips plant, is absolutely genuine. It exists in the tropical rainforests of Central and Southern Africa. The waxy bract, which is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with the flower, is bright red in colour, and is shaped like the luscious lips of a woman, complete with a welldefined cupids bow. The actual starshaped flowers emerge from the bracts centre.
3. Monkey Orchid
The Dracula Simia or the Monkey Orchid is also known as the monkeylike Dracula. This is a rare species of orchids which is found to grow in the cloud forests of southeastern parts of Ecuador and Peru. The orchid is called so because it has flowers which display an odd arrangement of column, petals and lip that strongly resembles the face of a monkey ?a baboon, to be more specific. The flowers bear the fragrance of a ripe orange.
4. Naked Man Orchid
The Orchis italica is often referred to as theItalianorchid, owing to its Mediterranean region where it generally grows in large numbers. But, more commonly, it is known as the naked man orchid. This is because, the amazing flowers of the orchid have petals that look like naked men. The flowers are a combination of bright pink and white in colour, and they are all clustered densely. These strangely shaped flowers make the plant quite popular.
5. Dove Orchid Or Holy Ghost Orchid
Peristeria is an orchid that is commonly found to grow across much of South America, along with Panama, Trinidad and Costa Rica. One look inside the pure white flower reveals a structure hidden inside it, which looks like dove. In fact, sitting cosy in the centre within the petals is an entire dove, complete with raised wings with tiny pink dots, and a tiny yellow beak. This structure is the reason behind its name. It is indeed one very peaceful looking flower.
6. Snapdragon and its Skull
The Antirrhinum, found in the rocky areasEurope,Americaand North Africa, has an interesting flower called the dragon flower or snapdragon. The beautiful flower petals give the impression of the face of a dragon, which, when squeezed, will open and close like the mouth. But, once the petals wither and fall off, only the seed pod is left behind, presenting quite a macabre look, because the seed pod looks like a skull. Ancient cultures believed snapdragons to have supernatural powers.
7. Duck Orchid
Caleana is commonly referred to as the Duck Orchid. This is because, the labellum looks just like a flying duck with its wings raised high. The lip, in particular, looks clearly like the beak of a duck. The flower is reddish brown in colour, and in rare cases, it is greenish with dark spots, and a single leaf appears near the base of the stalk. This small terrestrial orchid is found in theAustralia, from Queensland to South Australia, and even Tasmania.
8. Ballerina Orchid
These small plants are terrestrial spider orchids that grow singly or in groups in different parts across the island of Australia. The flowers are essentially cream in colour, with maroon markings, and their petals and sepals have dark trichromes. Together, the flower looks like a maiden in white tutus, holding agraceful ballet pose. The grazing of rabbits and kangaroos in the regions where they grow pose great threat to these orchids.
9. Parrot Flower
The Impatiens Psittacina is an amazing plant of the balsam family. The flowers are purple and carmine red in colour. When viewed from the sides, the flowers seemingly resemble a parrot in flight. British botanist and explorer, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, first noted, in a scientific description of the plant in 1901, how its bloom looks like aflying cockatoo and from then on, the name has stuck. This rare plant is found in Thailand, Burma and parts ofIndia.
10. Bleeding Heart
The flower, especially in the bud form, of the Lamprocapnos, a flowering plant of the poppy family, oddly resembles the conventional shape of the heart with e droplet beneath. That is why, it has been given the name, a bleeding heart. The outer petals are bright fuchsia in colour. As the flower blooms further and the outer petals open up, the inner, white parts, often called thelady in a bath become more visible. This plant is found in Siberia, northern China, Korea and Japan.