The Earth is 4.6 billion years old and plants have existed for almost a billion years. The first kind of complex life on the planet was in the form of plants. Plants have had a huge advantage over other animal species and they have developed in a lot of ways. Plants have evolved in a lot of ways both to defend themselves and to capture prey. Earth has an abundance of plant species, close to 298,000 of them. Some of these plant species are bound to be totally strange. Well, here are some of the strangest plants on earth.
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White Baneberry
This puny little plant is endemic to North American and is also called the doll’s eye plant. This is because its fruit is shaped like little balls. This plant has very minimal leaves and its stems are red in color. The flowers of this plant are very small but toxic.
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Baseball Plant
This is known as euphorbia obese scientifically and is native to Africa. This plant got its name because, yes, you guessed it; it is shaped like a baseball. It is about 20cm tall and does not have any branches. The plant grows either male flowers or female flowers only.
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Hydenellum Peckii
This is a special type of fungi which produces juice blood red in color. It produces this red liquid on its surface earning it the nickname of “bleeding tooth fungus”. This plant can be found across North America and Europe. It is actually edible but the red juice carries a bitter taste.
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Welwitschia Mirabilis
This is possibly the strangest plant on our list. It can only be found in the deserts of Namibia. It has an estimated lifespan of 500 to 1500 years which makes it among the longest living plants. The plant can survive extreme weather which makes it very hardy. Another interesting thing is that this plant has only two leaves which grow over and over again throughout its lifespan.
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Lithop
This plant can be described as a stone which makes it quite strange. Lithops have leaves which merge at the edge making them look like stones. These leaves are either brown or gray which makes this plant unique.
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Mimosa Pudica
This may well be the most popular plant on our list. People may have heard of it as the Touch-Me-Not. This plant has an active response to touch and curls up if threatened by touch. It can be found all over the world.
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Corpse Flower
As the name suggests, this flower gives off the smell of decomposing flesh. It is native to the island of Sumatra where it is protected by law for being endangered. The plant has a lifespan of 40 years and sometimes grows up to 8.2 meters tall.
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Rafflesia Arnoldi
This is quite a familiar flower as it produces the largest flowers known to mankind. The flowers of this plant grow up to 3 feet in width. This flower also gives off a decomposing flesh smell and can be found in Sumatra. Recently, it has been found that the corpse flower is bigger than the Rafflesia in some respects.
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Venus Flytrap
This is another popular plant on our list which is also a carnivore. The plant captures unsuspecting insects and gobbles them up. It derives its energy by consuming small insects and bugs. This plant can be found in the Eastern parts of North Carolina in the United States.
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Pitcher Plant
This is another carnivorous plant which is native to South East Asia. This plant has a deep cavity filled with fluid and enzymes to break down the insects trapped in them. The plant has a very unusual leaf structure and has a very attractive smell.
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