Hello , I’m photoglapher in Japan.
My main photo target is wild plants.
The other day, I photographed a strange plant.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101605032
It is a plant called Mitrastemon yamamotoi and is classified as a parasitic plant.
It seems that they are producing a large amount of nectar, and bees and beetles are gathering in search of it.
It is not endemic to Japan.
But, if you know of strange plants that bloom locally, please introduce them.
Here in Singapore (actually Southeast Asia, more broadly), we have Thismia which i have been trying to find for a long time. It’s rare and hard to spot in the leaf litter. Very cool plant
I wished Thismia americana was still around! In lieu of that, we have some other cool stuff like Venus flytrap.
For its grandiose name Gloriosa superba https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/141177-Gloriosa-superba
Whoever named it must have been seriously impressed with the plant to name it that, but it is very toxic and has been used to commit murder apparently.
One of our local birthwort Aristolochia triangularis
A liana with a specialized pollinisation method where it traps flies/insects inside that tube until they are covered with pollen.
other pics:
https://floradigital.ufsc.br/imagens/1700670115ed315057b1ab9a032560f99c3.jpg
https://floradigital.ufsc.br/imagens/17049407109f6d3b6347c167118520dac79.JPG
One of my all time faves from eastern/southern Australia, the aptly named large flying duck orchid
Roridula is the only genus of the South African endemic family Roridulaceae. There are two species, which can only be found on a few moist slopes in the Western Cape province. The two species live in separate mountain ranges.
The plant is semi-carnivorous. It has sticky hairs for catching insects, like many carnivorous plants, but it does not digest what it catches itself.
Rather, bugs of the Pameridea genus live on the Roridula leaves and feed on the trapped insects. The Roridula then absorbs the nutrients from their excretions. Each Roridula species has its own Pameridea species.
This is just one of many amazing plants that can be found in the fynbos biome, which is a mountainous scrubland habitat with a floral biodiversity rivalled only by rainforests.
A couple of years ago, in an ordinary forest in central Massachusetts, USA, I was astonished to find this … thing: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/61903367
I had no idea what it was, but iNat did: Stalked Puffball-in-Aspic, a fungus.
Edited to add: Oh, wait, you asked about plants. Sorry!
In Manitoba Canada I have seen ghost plants ( Monotropa uniflora - Wikipedia), another fungal parasite that lives much like @atronoxychump 's Thismia. I haven’t seen one in a long time, so have no photos. That’s the only strange one I can think of - I’m not really a plant person!
This is Eucrosia calendulina (Amarylis family).
(photo by Meerow & Sagásteguí, 1997)
It is only found in a small patch of cloud forest named “Bosque de Cachil” in northern Peru, through I have anecdotical records of similar plants up to 100km north. I know it’s got nothing on the Cape amarylids (which are shockingly impressive, must I say!) but I really like this plant very much. There are reports of the flowers being used to promote speaking in little kids as folkloric medicine, plus the bulbs are used to cure wounds.
Edit: there aren’t iNat records yet, sadly. Not like the area this plant inhabits recieves a lot of attention, through.
I can’t believe i forgot Nepenthes rafflesiana which can occasionally produce very large and elegant pitchers (that’s my hand for scale)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/66713583
This plant used to be called Buttonbush, but since 2020 I have heard it referred to almost exclusively as “Covid Plant”.
Two I’ve found in the United States, particularly the state of Tennessee.
Crane-fly Orchid (Tipularia discolor) from Johnson City, TN, USA on August 09, 2020 at 04:49 PM by Cade · iNaturalist - flowers in the summer to mimic the pheromones of female craneflies (Tipulidae) to attract the confused males, while broad, waxy, and snow-resistant green-and-purple leaves appear in the winter when the deciduous canopy lacks leaves.
Eastern Mosquito Fern (Azolla caroliniana) from Sullivan County, TN, USA on November 21, 2020 at 03:54 PM by Cade · iNaturalist - a tiny, floating fern species that turns red in the winter from carotenoid/anthocyanin pigments, filtering water with mutual, specialized bacteria on fuzzy rhizomes extending into the water.
I love buttonbush. I’ve never heard anyone call it Covid plant.
Some of the things I was going to say were already mentioned. Here are some more:
Strawberry bush aka bursting heart
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/83150-Euonymus-americanus
Little Brown Jug
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/122183-Hexastylis-arifolia
Southern Bluethread
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/159607-Burmannia-capitata
Golden Colicroot
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/158159-Aletris-aurea
I was excited to find some bear corn, another parasitic plant that apparently is better known as cancer root.
I dont have much plant photos, but I always thought these goat horns look interesting. This is also a host plant for the butterfly Euploea midamus in Hong Kong.
In northern California, California pitcher-plants would rank as one of the more interesting or strange plants - Observations · iNaturalist
We appreciate Culver’s Root: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52965542
Rattlesnake Master: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/128695-Eryngium-yuccifolium
Lady’s Slippers: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101835399
