Category Flowers

Have you heard of ‘corpse flower’?

When we speak of flowers, we usually think of rose, jasmine, marigold, hibiscus, and the like. And most flowers are less than the size of our palm and sweet-smelling. What if there’s a flower which is neither? Come, let’s find out more about this.

It’s huge and smelly!     

Rafflesia is a genus of flowering plants comprising at least 15 species found in Southeast Asia. Interestingly for a plant it has only flowers – with nothing to show for leaves or roots. Which means there’s no photosynthesis either. Rafflesia is basically a parasite, living off a type of vine. Its body – essentially made of thin filaments – lies inside the stem and the root of its host for years, and the flower bud bursts forth eventually. The bud continues to swell for months before the large flower blooms. For all that wait the flower stays in bloom for just about a week. But when in bloom, it gives off its signature stench – of rotting meat – that attracts flies. These flies ensure pollination and keep the species thriving. Unfortunately, Rafflesia’s forests are disappearing and it is critically endangered. It is “impossible to cultivate and “remains largely ignored”, according to a media report.

The largest

The flowers of Rafflesia usually win the largest flower title, and this year has been no different. The largest single flower ever recorded was found earlier this year in Sumatra, Indonesia, with a diameter of 111 cm – that’s a whopping 3.6 ft! This was a specimen of Rafflesia tuan-mudae, and beat the earlier record of 107 cm set by Rafflesia amoldii, also from the same region.

Picture Credit : Google

What is Super bloom?

A super bloom happens when a large concentration of wildflower seeds that have been dormant for years in the desert bloom sporadically and together when met with abundant rain.

Once in a few years, the hills of California burst with an explosion of colours. This happens when the wildflowers bloom in abundance and carpet the hillsides in hues of orange, purple, yellow and pink.

The wildflowers blanket the deserts and grasslands with such a grandeur that it can even be seen from space. This rare desert phenomenon in California when a large proportion of wildflowers bloom is called a super bloom.

The super bloom season occurs between late winter and early spring, from February through May. During this phenomenon, a large number of seeds sprout at the same time in the desert.

A super bloom happens when a large concentration of wildflower seeds that have been dormant for years in the desert bloom sporadically and together when met with abundant rain. A few weather conditions need to be satisfied for the super bloom to occur.

There must be a balance of sunshine, temperature, wind, and rainfall which will aid in the germination of the seeds that have been lying dormant for a long time in the desert soil.

The super blooms normally occur once every 10 to 15 years. But the years 2017 and 2019 saw the flowers blooming en masse. Depending on the location, the hillsides may get covered by desert sunflowers, desert lilies, California poppies, sand verbena, evening primrose and popcorn flowers.

A sudden change in temperatures such as cold weather or a hot spell can prevent the en masse blooming from happening. There are some human-induced factors that are a threat to the wildflowers and thereby severely affect the super bloom. These are residential development, mining, agriculture, climate change and so on.

Travellers are hopeful that this year they will be able to witness the super bloom. With some areas in San Diego County already blooming, people are hopeful that the floral phenomenon might appear this year.

The last time the super bloom happened tourists flocked to the area in hordes which led to a lot of road closures and traffic issues. It also caused habitat damage as people trampled over the flowers, picked them up, and followed trails that were closed to the public.

If one were to visit such a site, it goes without saying that one must visit the habitat responsibly. The plants should be left undisturbed and one must stick to the designated trails.

Picture Credit : Google 

What is special about Neelakurinji?

Strobilanthes kunthiana cover grassland slopes and shola forests of specific regions on the Western Ghats. These purplish blue flowers bloom once in 12 years, attracting wide-eyed visitors. But did you know that different varieties of Strobilanthes have different bloom cycles? Here are interesting and concerning facts about this genus.

  1. DIFFERENT VARIETIES: The word neelakurinji refers to the shrub Strobilanthes kunthiana, which grows in the shola forests of south Indian Western Ghats. It is part of the genus Strobilanthes, belonging to the family Acanthaceae. In addition to the neelakurinji, the Strobilanthes genus includes at least 300 flowering species such as Strobilanthes sessilis and Strobilanthes callosa. As mentioned earlier, the neelakurinji usually refers to Strobilanthes kunthiana, but in several instances (including news reports), different species of Strobilanthes are referred to as neelakurinji.
  2. BLOOMING PATTERNS AND TYPES: Many of the Strobilanthes species are 2 marked by unusual flowering patterns-blooming only once every one year to 16 years. While Strobilanthes kunthiana blooms once every 12 years. some other species may bloom once in four years, or 11 years, or 16 years, etc. Such species that take a long interval to bloom are scientifically referred to as plietesials. Apart from the time it takes for the shrub to bloom, what is fascinating is also the type of flowering that happens. The shrub witnesses two types of flowering-gregarious, where the flowering covers a very large area. and sporadic or isolated, where the flowering happens over a small area.
  3. A VITAL SHRUB: After they bloom,  strobilanthes species produce fruits, seeds, and then perish-only to be born again after the set interval. When the flowers bloom, especially on a large scale, they feed different types of larvae, and insects such as honeybees, butterflies, and moths. Since many of these are also pollinators, the blooming has a crucial role to play in the ecosystem. In addition, the flowers are said to have medicinal properties, though not much information is available on this aspect.
  4. SEVERAL THREATS:  The habitats of Strobilanthes bear the brunt of being used for plantation such as tea and coffee. Apart from this, issues such as encroachment, heavy tourist footfalls, water depletion, plastic waste, pollution, invasive species, and climate change threaten the species.
  5. WHEN NEXT? Notable blooming of 5 strobilanthes kunthiana happens in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In 2006 and 2018, its blooming was witnessed in places such as Ervaikulam National Park in Kerala and Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu. Given that this species has a 12-year flowering cycle, the next one can be expected in 2030. This September, Strobilanthes bloomed over a large area in Chikkamagaluru of Karnataka. However, reports suggest that it was not Strobilanthes kunthiana but Strobilanthes sessilis, believed to have last bloomed in 2006, a good 16 years ago!

Picture Credit : Google 

Which is the world’s largest flower?

Rafflesia Arnoldii, or the corpse flower, is the largest individual flower on Earth. It is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus Rafflesia found in the rain-forests of Sumatra and Borneo. With a strong and unpleasant odour of decaying flesh, it grows to a diameter of around one metre and weighs up to 11 kilograms. The buds of these flowers are about 30 cm wide and are very large and cabbage- like, in maroon or dark brown colour.

The flower is in fact a pot with five petals with striking red-brick and spotted cream colours, which warmly welcome carrion flies that are hungry for detritus. But the plant is now facing the threat of extinction and its existence is limited to places like Sumatra, Borneo, Thailand and the Philippines, because of depredations caused by humans and its own internal biology.

In terms of survival, everything seems to be against Rafflesia. Firstly, its seeds are difficult to germinate. As a result, it sustains entirely as a parasite on just one type of vine. This is dangerous as it can’t survive without the vine. Apart from this, once it has acquired its nutrition by being a parasite, the plant breaks out as a flower bud, swells up over several months, and then bursts into flower. But even after this arduous growth phase, most of the flower buds perish before blooming. Even after blooming, Rafflesia can last only a few days, and is forced to pollinate in this short period of time. But the chances of pollination are very rare as the numbers of plants are decreasing steadily.

Picture Credit : Google 

WHICH IS THE LARGEST NATURAL FLOWER GARDEN IN THE WORLD?

The Dubai Miracle Garden, occupying over 780,000 sq feet, is the world’s largest natural flower garden with over 150 million flowers and plants. The flowers are maintained with treated wastewater through a drip irrigation method, with an average of 757,082 litres of water used per day. The Dubai municipality re treats the grey water of the city and sends it directly to the Garden, where it is re-filtered and converted into high-quality water for watering. The Garden holds three Guinness World Records – world’s largest vertical garden, world’s biggest flower structure (Airbus A380 flower structure) and world’s tallest topiary-supported sculpture (59 foot Mickey Mouse topiary). Other floral works of art include the Floating Lady, Floral Clock, Sunflower Field, Smurfs Village, Floral Castle, among others. It is also home to the Dubai Butterfly Garden, the world’s largest and the region’s first indoor butterfly garden and sanctuary for over 15,000 butterflies from 26 species.

The concept of the first miracle garden project was formed under an agreement between Dubailand and the Dubai Properties Group destination. The project development was done under an agreement with Akar Landscaping and Agriculture Company,led by Jordanian businessman Abdel Naser Rahhal. The cost of the project was estimated at AED 40 million (US$11 million).

The Dubai Miracle garden has achieved three Guinness World Records. In 2013, it was declared as the world’s largest vertical garden. Currently an Airbus A380 flower structure in the garden is listed by Guinness World Records as the biggest flower structure in the world. The 18 metres (59 ft) topiary of Mickey Mouse, which weighs almost 35 tonnes, is the tallest topiary supported sculpture in the world.

Credit : Wikipedia 

Picture Credit : Google

WHAT IS TULIP FESTIVAL? WHY DOES CANADA GET TULIPS EVERY YEAR?

The Canadian Tulip Festival (French: Festival Canadien des Tulipes; Dutch: Canadees Festival van de Tulp) is a tulip festival, held annually in May in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The festival claims to be the world’s largest tulip festival, displaying over one million tulips, with attendance of over 650,000 visitors annually. Large displays of tulips are planted throughout the city, and the largest display of tulips is found in Commissioners Park on the shores of Dow’s Lake, and along the Rideau Canal with 300,000 tulips planted there alone.

In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa in gratitude for Canadians having sheltered the future Queen Juliana and her family for the preceding three years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in the Second World War. The most noteworthy event during their time in Canada was the birth in 1943 of Princess Margriet at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. The maternity ward was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government, thereby allowing Princess Margriet’s citizenship to be solely influenced by her mother’s Dutch citizenship. In 1946, Juliana sent another 20,500 bulbs requesting that a display be created for the hospital, and promised to send 10,000 more bulbs each year.

In the years following Queen Juliana’s original donation, Ottawa became famous for its tulips and in 1953 the Ottawa Board of Trade and photographer Malak Karsh organized the first “Canadian Tulip Festival”. Queen Juliana returned to celebrate the festival in 1967, and Princess Margriet returned in 2002 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the festival.

For many years, the festival featured a series of outdoor music concerts in addition to the tulips. The 1972 festival saw Liberace give an opening concert, and at the 1987 festival, Canadian singer Alanis Morissette made her first appearance at the age of 12, first became widely known after opening for Big Sugar at the 2003 festival. Montreal’s General Rudie also gained valuable exposure early in their career with a performance at the 2000 festival.

For a dozen years, the Canadian Tulip Festival celebrated countries all across the world, who have also adopted the Tulip as a Symbol of International Friendship. From Turkey, the originating country of the tulip.

While the Netherlands continues to send 20,000 bulbs to Canada each year (10,000 from the Royal Family and 10,000 from the Dutch Bulb Growers Association), by 1963 the festival featured more than 2 million, and today sees nearly 3 million tulips purchased from Dutch and Canadian distributors.

Credit : Wikipedia 

Picture Credit : Google 

What is a sea anemone?

If you were to dive deep into the ocean and reach the rocky floor below, chances are that you might see an incredibly colourful bed of flower-like creatures called sea anemones. Named after the anemone flower found on land, sea anemones are invertebrates (they do not have a backbone) with soft cylindrical bodies and colourful tentacles on the top that resemble petals.

Most of the time, sea anemones stay attached to rocks or coral, and prey on small fish and crustaceans that swim close to them. However, they are known to occasionally move from their position. But their movement is very slow – about 9.91 millimetres in an hour! To move, a sea anemone uses its pedal disc (or base) to slowly shift along on a rock or coral. It is also able to swim and float.

The sea anemone’s tentacles act like its hands. They help it to capture prey and also serve as a defence mechanism. Every tentacle has tiny stinging capsules called nematocysts which shoot out a tiny amount of stinging poison capable of paralysing or killing small animals. The paralysed prey is then moved with the help of its tentacles to its mouth and swallowed whole!

Sea anemones are found throughout the world’s oceans, but the most abundant populations are found in shallow, tropical waters. They are threatened by climate change, habitat destruction, disease, pollution, predation and of late, collection and trade. If left undisturbed they can live up to 60-80 years. The oldest sea anemone on record is 100-years-old.

Picture Credit : Google

What is Anthophobia ?

An irrational fear of flowers is called Anthophobia. The word is a combination of two Greek words namely anthos meaning ‘flowers’ and phobos meaning ‘fear or deep aversion’.

You have probably come across many types of phobias among human beings. Some are understandable while some might seem highly irrational or unbelievable like fear of birds, fear of work or fear of feet. But most phobias are legitimate and can affect a person’s life drastically. One of the types of phobia that exist today is Anthophobia, the fear of flowers.

Fear of flowers is not the same as the fear of plants or the fear of nature. The fear of plants is known as Botanophobia and the fear of nature is called Biophobia. So Anthophobia is only specific to flowers or flowering plants. The sufferer is not afraid of other plants and trees. Most Anthophobic people will tend to stay away from nature as much as possible as there is a chance encounter of flowers and flowering plants always in the back of their minds. They will be morbidly afraid of flowers and will react rather negatively. This type of fear is extremely rare and exists in only a few people around the world.

Anthophobia symptoms will vary from person to person depending upon the degree of trauma and susceptibility to anxiety under given circumstances. However, there are specific symptoms one can look out for, such as:

Panic Attacks – Having a drastic panic attack at the mere sight or thought of flowers could be one of the main symptoms.

Sweaty palms, racing heartbeats, rapid or accelerated breathing, trembling or shivering and so on are certain factors to look out for. It is important to note that the symptoms are stimulated even by thoughts and not just by vision. Irrational amount of fear – Having a fear of impending doom along with thoughts of death and powerlessness are some of the feelings one would experience when they are placed in a situation where they are around flowers. These emotional symptoms will be directly associated with Anthophobia in the individual.

Credit :  Types of Phobia

Picture Credit : Google 

Where is the famous valley of the roses?

The valley of the roses’ could be the title of a novel or a romantic film, one of many fantasies; instead it actually exists in Bulgaria.

It is a narrow valley (enclosed by two mountain chains and crossed by the Tundza, the principal tributary of the river Maritza) which at harvest time becomes a sea of roses, a unique spectacle. Until the height of summer every morning at the first signs of dawn the petal pickers fill their large sacks and hurry to deliver their product to be processed before the petals lose their fragrance.

Rose essence, known and appreciated in all parts of the world, is extracted from the petals.

 

Picture Credit : Google

What happens if you touch a touch me not plant?

Many of us may have heard of or even seen or touched the touch-me-not plant also called the sensitive plant. The moment we touch it the plant quickly folds its leaves inward. It unfolds the leaves when it feels safe enough. The plants have different types of cells that help them fold in response to external stimuli (such as touch, heat light etc.), and unfold.

Scientifically known as Mimosa pudica, the touch-me-not plant spends a lot of energy not during this folding unfolding act. It loses a chance to photosynthesise too. And yet it continues to do this because scientists believe this behavior could have evolves as a response to guard itself against predators, especially herbivores. Closed or closing leaves are assumed to have several benefits. They could make it tougher for animals to detach the leaves from the stems the animals could be fooled into believing the plant is dying or dead and is of no use and the sudden closure of the leaves could shake off insects or even startle herbivores into moving away from the plant while all these are interesting by themselves, something even more fascinating came about in a 2014 study.

A group of researchers decided to study if plants could be “trained” to change their behaviour, and used touch-me-nots for the study. From a height of about 15 cm. test plants in pots were dropped onto foam. This was repeated, and after a point, the plants no longer folded their leaves, perhaps since they did not sense any harm. Intriguingly, even a month after this experiment, the plants remembered to not fold their leaves when the experiment was taken up again Scientists concluded that plants could “learn”, a trait usually attributed to animals. And this learning could mean that by not folding their leaves the touch-me-nots could save energy.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Why does neelakurinji flower only once in 12 years?

The lifecycle of plants differs from species to species. There are those that complete their lifecycle in one year (called annuals) and those that live for more than one year, flowering once or many times in their lifetime (perennials)

Those that flower only once, produce seeds and die. The next generation of the plant is established from these seeds and the cycle gets repeated. Such plants are known as monocarpic. (Whereas polycarpic plants are those that flower many times during their lifetime.) Kurinji is monocarpic. Monocarpic plants flower only on attaining maturity. The time taken to mature varies for different species of kurinji. So, different species of kurinji have different intervals of flowering too.

Neelakurinji matures in 12 years time and flowers every 12 years. That is, it takes another 12 years for the seeds to sprout and grow 30 to 60 centimetres high for another glorious bloom. Each shrub reproduces once in its lifetime and dies after flowering.

India is home to nearly 46 species of kurinji, with most of them showing an unusual flowering behaviour, varying from annual to 16-year blooming cycles.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Why do flowers have fragrance?

Flowers get their scent from a mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by the plant. The fragrance is often strongest in the petals.

Different flowering plant species encompass a diversity of VOCs and no two fragrances are the same. The purpose of scent is to attract pollinators and repel herbivores. Flowers also use colour and shape to attract pollinators. The scent is strongest when a flower is ready for pollination – a full bloom’s smell is powerful than a bud’s.

Maximal emissions also coincide with the active phase of visiting pollinators. Plants pollinated by moths usually emit the most fragrance in the evening or night (when moths are active), while plants pollinated by bees produce the most scent during the day (when bees are active).

 

Picture Credit : Google