We still, thankfully, have a local Thismia species, Thismia rodwayi:
Image from iNaturalist user @katyabandow, from observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99758763, CC-BY-NC
2 Likes
Not particularly strange here, but perhaps of interest: Jack in the Pulpit, Pussytoes, Wood horsetail and Ghost pipes
2 Likes
I used to live in Mexico and one of my favorite plants was Tigridia vanhouttei. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/332822
1 Like
It’s hard when you’re not in tropics.
2 parasitic species: Common Toothwort and Dutchman’s pipe
And a floating fern
2 Likes
It’s funny to see those common names associated with parasitic plants - just shows how many names are applied to more than one plant species. Over here, toothworts are white to pink blooming spring ephemerals in the mustard family and nothing special, though what we call Dutchman’s pipe might be another good candidate for a strange plant list.
2 Likes
Yeah, common names is a very interesting topic!
In Russian Lathraea squamaria is called Common (or Scaled) Petre’s Cross (after roots that look like cross), Scale, Tsar-weed and some other quite weird names.
Monotropa hypopitys modern name is something like Under-fir and also have another name which is even harder to translate so it could sound normally, but something like Twirling, named after the fact that after flowering their stem straightens.
We only have one species from Aristolochiaceae which imo is a very strange-looking family! I can’t say it’s an interesting plant, but it has small and hard-to-find flowers: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/75195962
1 Like
We have a sister species to that one, too (Asarum canadense), although here it’s called wild ginger. Which is odd, because it is not related to ginger, which is a pretty odd plant itself.
2 Likes
There are several carnivorous plant species here in southeast Texas. This includes quite a few bladderwort (Utricularia) species. I’ve seen some terrestrial ones. Their traps are underground, just the flower sticks up. This is one of the species I’ve seen: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/170087-Utricularia-juncea . I’d love to find a floating one like this species: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/170086-Utricularia-inflata . We also have one pitcher plant species https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/123545-Sarracenia-alata , one butterwort species https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/166889-Pinguicula-pumila , and two sundew species https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/162094-Drosera-capillaris (and D. brevifolia)
1 Like
Weird orchids I have seen in east Texas:
Green Adder’s-Mouth https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/154999-Malaxis-unifolia
Crane-fly Orchid https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/121490-Tipularia-discolor (Already mentioned in this thread. I have also heard them called Crippled Crane-fly)
Waterspider Bog Orchid https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/155102-Habenaria-repens (I have seen growing both as terrestrial and floating mats)
Southern Twayblade https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/209199-Neottia-bifolia
Large Whorled Pogonia https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62184-Isotria-verticillata (I haven’t seen this one in bloom yet)
1 Like
This is Sphaerocarpos, a rarely seen marchantiophyte!
In the wild, it inhabits seasonally dry habitats but it dies soon after drying up; the spores survive until the next rainy season. Cultivated specimens can become “immortal” if kept constantly wet, oddly enough.
3 Likes
I call it that in Austin, TX. Due to COVID, I don’t have much exposure, so I don’t know how widespread it is.
1 Like
That is really cool. It made me think of a plant we have here in southeastern US. But this one comes back from the “dead”. In dry weather Resurrection Fern will shrivel up, turn brown, and look dead, but it perks back up as soon as it rains. It’s an epiphyte. It seems to especially like to grow on the broad horizontal limbs of Live Oaks. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/698726-Pleopeltis-michauxiana
1 Like
Here’s another one I was just reminded of as I was processing pictures from my last fall hikes: Dodder. Like many of the odd plant examples above, it’s another parasitic plant, but aerial. I like to call them vampire plants. It is an annual that germinates in spring and its seedlings twirl around in search of a host plant. Once it finds one and it ‘tastes’ right (they sense phytochemicals to determine that), it will ‘bite’ using haustoria that tap into the stem’s phloem and starts climbing up its host and sucking its nutrients. Eventually it loses its roots and just looks like someone threw a pot of spaghetti out into the woods (being parasitic, the plants are just yellowish stems with no clorophyll or leaves). In late summer to fall, it erupts in white flowers to produce seeds before the first freezes kill it so the cycle can repeat the next year.
4 Likes
I’ve been trying to remove it from my property. If it wasn’t bright orange, it would be impossible. It breaks easy and if you drop a piece on the ground it will grab onto the nearest plant and start growing again.
1 Like
Ghost pipes are one of my favorite / most-sought-after plants. I’ve only seen them a few times in my life. The one observation I’ve managed to document for iNat is this one from 2014. There’s a related species called Pinesap which also has no chlorophyll. I’ve never found Pinesap but apparently it does occur in Northwestern Ontario and SE Manitoba.
3 Likes
This is very cool.
The way it comes back to life is truly life-like.
By the way, did you know that there is also a plant in Japan called “IWAHIBA”?（Selaginella tamariscina）
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/366348-Selaginella-tamariscina
It has the same characteristics and is also very cool.
It is also known as the Jericho rose.
In any case, it’s nice to see a plant that comes back to life.
1 Like
Thank you all for introducing me to so many, many strange plants!
I was very excited to read about some of the unusual plants that grow in Japan, and some that I had never seen before and didn’t even know existed.
Once again, I am reminded of the wide world of plants.
Someday, someday, I would like to visit the native habitat to catch a glimpse of the strange plants and photograph them!
Thank you!
4 Likes
Oooh, I’ve never seen one of those. They are magnificent. The only place I’ve seen Ghost Pipes was in a ragged, damp bush in Winnipeg. It was called the Parker Wetlands. It was given to a developer, who then bulldozed the bush for housing. I don’t think he’s started building yet.
1 Like