The floristry world is an absolutely beautiful one. With different colors and different shapes, all plants decorate this earth from their best. And also a beautiful plant is an ideal gift for anyone you love. It becomes more valuable if that plant is a very uncommon one. So in this article, I’m going to bring you information about some amazing plants in the world. Hope you’ll enjoy this article and grab some knowledge too!
# Skeleton Flower
The ‘Skeleton Flower’ is a little white blossom which is only found in three parts of the world. You can find them in colder regions of China, Japan as well as in the Appalachian Mountains in the USA. This plant only grows on wooded mountainsides which are full with moisture. Even though we say it ‘Skeleton Flower’, the actual scientific name is ‘Diphylleia grayi’. It is also known as the ‘transparent flower’. You can easily identify this rare flower with its white petals and umbrella-like large leaves.
These flowers bloom only from mid-spring to early summer. At the first look, you’ll see this as an ordinary flower but actually, it is a very extraordinary one. The extraordinary thing happens with the rain. When it rains, the white petals of this flower completely turn into clear transparent petals and their veiny structures start to show. With this fact, these flowers look like skeletons of flowers rather than a living specimens. This is the reason for calling it a ‘skeleton flower’. This happens not because of pigments being washed, but because of the loose cell structure on their petals. Once the rain is over and petals dry out, they turn back to their usual white color again.
# Saucer Plant
The ‘Saucer Plant’ is also a very attractive plant that is mainly found in Teno, San Juan, and Taganana in the Canary Islands. The scientific name of this plant is ‘ Aeonium tabuliforme’ and this is also known as ‘Dinner plate plant’. This is a very wonderful, strange, and ground-hugging plant sometimes grow flat as same as a pancake. Saucer plant has soft-green rounded leaves and the plant forms by overlapping 100-200 unbranched leaves.
When this plant is ready to bloom, it changes its shape about two months before and looks like a volcano. And then changes its shape like a cinder cone and finally erects its flower stems from the middle of the rosette. It reaches up to 50-60 centimeters in height and has lots of small yellow flowers. The Blooming of this plant usually happens during the late summer and after blooming this plant begins to die. This Aeonium usually lives about 3 years after the blooming.
Aeonium plant grows throughout the year but it slows down during the hottest part of the summer. And this can be reproduced through seeds. And also it can be propagated through leaf cuttings and offshoots.
# Trachyandra Tortilis
This is an extremely rare plant with some ribbon-like green succulent leaves. These curled green leaves give this peep an attractive unique look. And also leaves of this plant grow on a bulb and grow around 25 inches in length. The unique appearance and size make this a great house plant and it is suitable to place on a table or shelf pot. Let’s find out some interesting facts about this plant.
This plant was firstly described in 1843 and this is a native plant to some regions in Africa. South Africa, East Africa, Madagascar, and Yemen are those regions. Usually, this plant has 4-8 ribbon-like green leaves in a curled-up manner. This shrub only blooms during the early spring and late winter and fills with small pale pink flowers which last lesser than a day. As they have a short life span you must always watch the plant during the blossoming season, if you don’t want to miss the sight of those flowers!
As this is a very rare plant, it is quite expensive in the market. And also this plant has a life span of several decades if you keep it carefully. And also you’ll be able to pass on this plant to your next generations as well. I personally do not recommend this plant to a beginner as this needs good knowledge and care. If you wish to have one of these plants, you will need to care about soil, watering, indirect light as well as ventilation.
When considering the soil, you need to have ventilated and good-draining sandy or rocky soil. Never use wet and soggy soil. When it comes to watering, this plant follows the common succulent theory of ‘soak and dry’. It means this plant does not need too much water. It is enough to water this plant once a week and make sure that the soil is dry before watering again. Direct sunlight is not suitable for this plant and it is better to give plenty of indirect sunlight to this plant.
As this is a very expensive plant, you may like to know how to propagate this succulent. There are two ways to do it. The first one is you can propagate through seeds. But seeds grow very slowly and they will take more than a year to become decorative plants. But you can try propagation by leaf cutting. Take a sharp scissor and cut a leaf from it and plant it in a well-drained potting mixture.
# Devil’s Backbone
Devil’s backbone is a very easy plant to grow and a wonderful houseplant to a bright spot. It also purifies the air and adds a dramatic look to the indoor décor. Besides their common name ‘Devil’s Backbone’, it is also called ‘Zigzag plant’. This plant earned this name because of the interesting pattern of the stems when it grows. This plant doesn’t have actual flowers. But it has red leaf bracts that are called ‘slipper flowers’ because of their shape.
The origin of this plant has been stated as the South and Central America. Even though this is a very attractive plant, it is really toxic for all kinds of pets. It will be toxic for even humans if it is eaten. Specially, try to avoid the milky sap of this plant as it will cause skin irritations. But you can touch the white and green leaves of these plants without fear.
When considering the propagation of this plant, you can easily do it with root cutting. Just cut a stem about four inches in length using clean scissors. Then leave it for about 4 days to dry and plant it after dipping the cut end in rooting hormone. The total process from cutting to having a new plant will take about two months.
There are a few things you should remember if you are willing to have this plant. Devil’s backbone usually prefers indirect sunlight. So try to avoid direct sunlight. It does not need much water. So do not overwater it and use a clay pot with several drainage holes as the container. Those holes will help the plant to rescue from over water. Devil’s backbone can survive a long period without water. But when there is no enough water it starts to drop its lower leaves. So if this happens, water the plant properly and the leaf dropping will stop automatically!
