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Unusual Plants: Carnivorous, Strangling, Smelling, and Camouflaging Plants

© Zany

There are many plants that can be considered just plain odd. In order to survive, some plants have become carnivorous; some can rise from the dead; some plants strangle; some plants stink; some look like rocks; some plants grow in air; and some move when touched.

Carnivorous Plants

Carnivorous plants usually live in poor soil and trap insects for additional nutrients. A well-known carnivorous plant is the Venus flytrap. The Venus flytrap uses what is called a "steel trap" to catch insects. Other traps used by carnivorous plants are pitfalls (pitcher plant), flypaper (sundew and butterwort) and suction traps (blatterwort or greater blatterwort).

Plants that Strangle

The strangler fig strangles another tree. The strangler fig is a primary hemiepiphyte - the plant is epiphytic (does not root in soil during its first stage in life) but becomes rooted in soil later. The strangler tree grows in the topical rainforest. Birds and bats drop seeds and the plant begins to grow high up in the branches of a rainforest tree. Its roots snake downward, wrapping around the trunk of the host tree, eventually strangling it. 

Plants that use Smell to Attract Pollinators

The corpse flower, native to Sumatra, smells like rotting putrid flesh. This smell attracts flies and carrion beetles, which pollinate the flower. Another plant that uses a rotting smell to attract pollinators is the Stapelia gigantea, native to South Africa. 

Plants that Camouflage Themselves

Lithops, or "living stones," originate from South Africa and Namibia, and are widely available. Lithops grow in dry regions and are succulents that consist of a single pair of fleshy leaves that resemble a rock.

Other Interesting Plants

Air plants are amazing because they do not need soil to grow. Some air plants are Staghorn fern, orchids and some bromeliads. Ball Moss is a flowering plant of the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae) which is not a moss at all. The resurrection fern can "rise from the dead." It lives in dry climates. When there is a drought, it curls up and looks dead, only to revive when it eventually rains.  Last but not least is the sensitivity plant. This plant recoils or closes up if touched.

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