58 Mind-Blowing Facts About Flowers | Legacy Facts

58 Mind-Blowing Facts About Flowers

# Flowers did not always exist; they first appeared 140 million years ago. Prior to that, the world was dominated by ferns and cone-bearing trees.

# Flowers evolved after mammals.

# Tulip bulbs were worth more than gold in 17th Century Holland! The flower symbolized love, life, and immortality. In the 1630s a kind of frenzy for tulips occurred in Western Europe called "Tulip mania" and tulips were as costly as a form of currency to be regarded as. The lifespan of a tulip is very short, 3 to 7 days.

# Broccoli is actually a flower.

# The Ghost flower is a flowering plant, without chlorophyll.

# Titan Arum is the largest flower in the world; the circumference of their massive flowers can be more than three meters, and they stand three meters high with a single leaf that can grow to the size of a small tree. This is also known as the corpse flower, because of the horrible smell of rotting flesh.

# Some plants like orchids don't need soil in order to grow-they get all their nutrients from the air.

# Two thousand roses are required to produce one gram of rose oil.

# Roses are related to apples, cherries, raspberries, peaches, nectarines, plums, almonds, and pears. Rose hips (the berry-like fruit structure of rose) of some species of rose are amongst the richest source of Vitamin C.

# Many rose cultivars never produce fruit (rose hips) because the flowers are petalled too tightly to allow pollination. The flowers are beautiful but "broken" in that they do not fulfill a flower's biological purpose.

# Dandelions are an excellent source of iron, potassium, calcium, and vitamins A and C. Though regarded as a weed, one cup contains nearly 13,000 I.U. of vitamin A.

# In Southeast Asian cuisine, a flower is often used as a food dye called "Clitoria"-named because it resembles the sexual organs of a woman.

# Some plants produce toxic compounds that kill other plants around them-the sunflower is an example.

# The sunflower's flower head moves throughout the day, following the sun.

# Actually, each single-petalled flowers are the petals of a sunflower; a sunflower is actually a cluster of hundreds of flowers.

# Gas Plant or the Burning Bush, as it is sometimes called, earned its name because its leathery green leaves, flowers, and seed pods give off a strong lemon scented vapor that can be ignited with a match on a calm summer night.

# Lilies are toxic to cats and can be fatal.

# In fact, Mimosa Punica, or sensitive plant, will actually fold up its leaves when touched. It has whitish pink fuzzy flowers that look like tiny pom-poms.

# Some flowers only release pollen when a bee is buzzing at them.

# Angelica has been used for many things throughout history. Including to ward off evil spirits, bubonic plague, and also for indigestion.

# The Bird of Paradise is a beautiful, oddly shaped plant that resembles a colorful tropical bird.

# The "Wolffia" is the smallest known flowering plant on earth. This aquatic plant is sometimes referred to as watermeal or duckweed because it looks like specks of cornmeal floating on water.

# Corkscrew vine flower, Vigna Caracalla, has a flower-shaped like nautilus shells.

# Bamboo flowers are rarely seen. Some bamboo species produce flowers after 65 or 120 years. All plants of one species of bamboo grow flowers at the same time, no matter where they are in the world.

# The largest single flower is the Rafflesia arnoldii which is native to the rainforests of Sumatran. This rare and endangered species, like the titan arum, smells like rotting flesh, can reach a whopping three feet in diameter, and weigh about 24 pounds.

# The SnapDragon flowers look like little mouths. If you squeeze the floral sides, it will open the mouth, so it will "eat" stuff. When you release the floral sides it's going to close again.

# There is a flower that looks like the lips of a hooker and is actually called "Hooker's Lips."

# White flowers give off stronger scents than colorful flowers.

# The lotus was considered by ancient Egyptians to be a sacred flower and was used in burial rituals. The Egyptians considered it a symbol of eternal life and resurrection. While others see the flower as a beauty, grace, purity, and serenity symbol.

# Because of the belief that foxes slipped their feet into the leaves to sneak up on their prey, Foxgloves were given their name.

# By simply handling the plant, the foxglove flower can cause your heart rate to drop.

# Saffron comes from a crocus flower and is a very expensive spice.

# Vanilla flowers open only once for 2-3 hours and require hand pollination in order to produce a bean.

# The Agave, also known as the "century plant", spends several years without producing any flowers, after which it produces one single bloom and dies. This phenomenon is called monocarpic.

# Pickled marsh marigolds are used as a substitute for capers.

# There is a plant called Ramonda Serbica that comes to life miraculously when watered, even though it is fully dried. That's why it’s also called Serbian Phoenix Flower.

# The Maltese consider Chrysanthemums unlucky and associate them with funerals.

# The relative acidity of the soil will determine the color of the Hydrangea flower; the acidic soil will produce a blue flower, and the alkaline soil will produce a pink flower.

# Arrowroot derived from plant Marantha Aruninacea was used by the native Indians to remove poisons from an arrow wound.

# Only at night, the moon flowers bloom and close throughout the day. They have large fragrant, white or pink flowers of between 4 to 6 inches on twining vines. The Moon Flower opens in the evening and lasts through the night, remaining open until the morning Sun comes into contact.

# The Oleander is even more poisonous. If eaten the effects can lead to seizures, tremors, coma, and even death.

# Actually, Nintendo bred its own type of flower to market their "Pikmin" series. For this reason, this flower the Chaenostoma cordatum also known as the bacopa cabana is also known as the "Pikmin flower."

# The oldest flower in the world was discovered in China in 2002. Archaefructus resembles a water lily and first bloomed around 125 million years ago.

# Blue cohosh also known as "squaw root" or "papoose root" has been used by Native Americans to treat women's problems such as childbirth and relieve labor pain. Today, midwives may use blue cohosh to tone the uterus during the last month of pregnancy to prepare for labor.

# Once the Vikings invaded Scotland their progress was slowed by wild thistle-filled fields that allowed the Scots to escape. The thistle has since become the official flower of the Scotlands.

# Luckily there are flowers that smell delicious. As the Cosmos atrosanguineus, also known as the Cosmos Chocolate Flower. This is a dark burgundy flower that was gifted with the perfect chocolate smell. But there are also more flowers that smell like chocolate: for example the chocolate orchid and the black salsify.

# A pinecone is the state flower of Maine.

# The oleander is the official flower of the city of Hiroshima because it was the first to bloom again after the 1945 atomic bomb explosion.

# California produces over 60 percent of America's fresh-cut flowers.

# Giving your date a dozen flowers is a faux pas in Russia; you offer an odd number of flowers for a happy occasion, and an even number for condolences.

# Angelas Trumpet is used by the Amazonian tribes in Shamanic rituals. This beautiful looking flower produces toxins which are highly potent.

# When Darwin was researching an orchid in Madagascar whose flower had a foot long nectar-filled tube, he hypothesized that it had an unknown pollinating moth with a proboscis of the same length, an unprecedented length at that time. The moth was eventually discovered not until 21 years after his death.

# Throughout World War I Yarrow was used to heal wounds. Achilles was said to have been dipped head-first into a yarrow tea bath.

# A 32,000-year-old extinct Arctic flower has been revived using seeds found by a squirrel from the Ice Age.

# The Aalsmeer Flower Auction is the world's largest auction of its kind. From the 10.6 million square foot warehouse in The Netherlands, about 20 million flowers are auctioned daily.

# The poinsettia shrub is originally a native to Mexico, where it can grow up to 13 feet tall; it was cultivated by the Aztecs.

# The funeral casket of Sergei Prokofiev was lined with hand-drawn flowers because there was an order that all the flowers from the florists would go to the funeral of Joseph Stalin. Just 40 people attended Prokofiev’s funeral.

# Do you suffer from restless nights? A vase full of Gerberas might do the trick. Because at night these blooms release oxygen and absorb carbon monoxide and toxins they can make your sleep even better.

If you are interested then check out our "Facts About Baobab"

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