Oh, plants, we could never be able to count the ways we love you! Your calming green leaves give us serenity, the oxygen you produce brings us life, and your healing powers bring us health. Truly, there is no doubt that plants are life, and we love life! And, as life comes with various fun and interesting bits of info, so do plants. That’s why we’ve dedicated this list to everything and all about our green friends – welcome aboard to our facts about plants roster!
Now, you might already know some plant facts even before checking our lineup, but there are loads more plant trivia to learn! For instance, did you know that a cucumber is a fruit and not a vegetable? Or that the caffeine that most of us adore so much actually works as a pesticide for the coffee plant? Or did you know that there’s a carnivorous plant capable of devouring a fully-grown rat? P.S.: That’s one of our weird plant facts, but you can be sure that not all of them are such – others are purely incredible!
We have to admit something here – the deeper we dug into these cool facts about plants, the more we realized how little we actually knew about our little leafy fellas. That said, these interesting facts did help us expand our knowledge, and hopefully, you’ll find them useful too.
So, without any further ado, let’s skip to the fun facts about plants, shall we? As usual, they are just a leaf’s length further down, and once you are there, be sure to rank the facts by their awesomeness. Lastly, share this article with anyone who might enjoy it!
#1
Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are 50 years old.
Image source: extension.tennessee.edu
#2
Elephant grass, which grows in Africa, gets its name from the fact that it may reach a height of 4.5 meters, which is high enough to conceal an elephant.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#3
The entire dandelion plant, including the roots and petals, can be consumed.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#4
Peru is the ‘birthplace’ of potatoes! That is where potatoes were grown initially roughly 7,000 years ago.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#5
In Australia, there is a plant called as the “Suicide Plant” because its sting can have a long-lasting effect and inflict such excruciating pain that some people have committed themselves after coming into contact with it.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org, Steve Fitzgerald
#6
A cactus plant’s water cannot be consumed! Although cactus plants can store a lot of water, this water is sadly unfit for human consumption. Although not poisonous, the acids and alkaloids in this water are damaging to human kidneys.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#7
Sunflower appears to have one huge flower, but each head is actually made up of hundreds of smaller blossoms, or florets, which mature into seeds. All members of the sunflower family, including daisies, yarrow, goldenrod, asters, coreopsis, and bachelor’s buttons, have this characteristic.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#8
Cranberries float and bounce in water due to tiny air bubbles inside them.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#9
One of the oldest surviving tree species is the ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), which dates back roughly 290 million years. Another old species is the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), which has been around for roughly 150 million years. Before they were discovered alive, both had been identified in the fossil record.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
#10
Nectarines and peaches primarily vary in that nectarines have smooth skin and peaches have fuzzy skin. Both nectarine and peach fruits can be obtained by grafting peach branches onto nectarine trees, or the other way around.
Image source: britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org
#11
The claim of having the hottest chili pepper in the world is still up for debate. The Carolina Reaper has already supplanted bhut jolokia, sometimes known as the “ghost pepper,” which is 401.5 times hotter than store-bought spicy sauce.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#12
Bluebell flower juice used to be used to make glue. Its bulbs were crushed to create starch for collar and sleeve ruffs during the Elizabethan era, and their sticky sap was once employed to bind books and glue feathers onto arrows.
Image source: woodlandtrust.org.uk
#13
Camellia sinensis, is the source of all teas, including black, green, and white. The processing techniques are the only thing that is different.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#14
The world’s fastest-growing woody plant is bamboo. In a single day, it can grow up to 35 inches.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#15
Although the ancient Egyptians were the first to chronicle the technique of making herbal wine some 5,000 years ago, archaeologists have discovered evidence that grapes were grown to make wine in the Caucasus (modern-day Georgia) about 8,000 years ago.
Image source: nationalgeographic.com, researchgate.net
#16
The name of the pineapple came from European explorers who thought it had apple-like flesh and the appearance of a pinecone. The only edible members of the bromeliad family are pineapples.
Image source: en.wiktionary.org
#17
Oleander (Nerium oleander), a lovely flowering shrub that is endemic to the Mediterranean, is deadly in all forms. The effects of ingesting oleander leaves on the cardiovascular, neurological, and gastrointestinal systems can be fatal.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
#18
La Fete du Muguet, or the festival of the lily-of-the-valley, is celebrated in France on May 1. On the occasion, loved ones are given flower bouquets with wishes for their health and happiness.
Image source: frenchlibrary.org
#19
A carnivorous plant native to the Philippines can ‘eat’ a full-size rat! Our advice – keep your fingers to yourself when near it.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#20
Crocus sativus, a species of fall-blooming crocus, is used to produce saffron, a spice used in Mediterranean cuisine.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#21
Banana is an Arabic word for fingers. Finger food, anyone?
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#22
There are about 70,000 plant species that are used for therapeutic purposes.
Image source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
#23
Some plants are self-pollinators. They move the pollen grains from the anther to the stigma on the same flower. These plants can reproduce without the aid of pollinators like insects. Self-pollination occurs in very few plants. Peanuts, orchids, peas, and sunflowers are a few examples.
Image source: britannica.com
#24
Carrots were originally purple rather than orange. Its new color is the product of human hybridization over many centuries.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#25
Brazil got its name in honor of a tree! Brazil is a contraction of Terra do Brasil, or “Country of Brazil,” which refers to the brazilwood tree. The term was given to the areas that were leased to the merchant group headed by Ferno de Loronha in the early 16th century to exploit brazilwood for the purpose of producing wood dyes for the European textile industry.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#26
Plants may not have noses, but they use chemicals in the air to sense their surroundings. Dodder is a parasitic plant that adheres to other plants and feeds on their sap for nutrition. Yet, it can “smell” other plants instead of growing aimlessly in search of something edible. Dodder can feel which plants are healthier and so better able to supply nutrition, choosing tomatoes over wheat as its favorite food.
Image source: nytimes.com
#27
The wishbone flower is a shade-loving annual plant called Torenia. Watch for small stamens in purple, blue, or burgundy petals that resemble wishbones.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#28
Tulips were so expensive in Holland during the 1600s that the value of their bulbs exceeded that of gold. Tulip mania, also known as tulipomania, was the craze that contributed to the collapse of the Dutch economy.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#29
The titan arum flower (Amorphophallus titanium), which can grow up to 15 feet tall, is the world’s biggest unbranched bloom. The bloom has a smell comparable to that of rotting meat, therefore the common name “corpse flower.” Another plant from the Sumatran rainforests, the Rafflesia, has a similar scent. As they don’t compete with other blooms for butterflies and hummingbirds, both developed their aroma to draw pollinating flies.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
#30
The longest-living creatures on earth are trees!
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#31
As cucumber has seeds in the middle, it is a fruit and not a vegetable.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#32
The vanilla flavor is extracted from the pod of the Vanilla planifolia orchid. Although the pods are known as vanilla beans, corn is more closely related vegetable.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org, Matilda Smith, John Nugent Fitch
#33
The African baobab tree’s trunk can hold between 1000 and 120,000 liters of water.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#34
Being natural sedatives, onions might make you sleepy if you eat too many at once.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#35
Certain plants, like moss and ferns, don’t produce flowers or seeds. They create spores to replicate.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#36
In recognition of the role A. W. Livingston of Reynoldsburg had in making the tomato popular in the late 1800s, tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio.
Image source: ohiosos.gov
#37
There are 200 seeds on a strawberry. It is the only fruit with seeds that are visible on the exterior.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#38
Tree resin, also known as amber, frequently contains trapped plant matter or microscopic insects.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#39
At a diameter of 0.004-0.008 inches, Asian watermeal (Wolffia globosa) is the tiniest flowering plant in existence.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#40
A eucalyptus from Australia stood as the tallest tree ever – over 60 m.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#41
Native to Mexico, poinsettias were introduced to US by Joel Poinsett, the first American minister to Mexico, in 1825.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#42
The scientific term for blooming plants, angiosperm, describes the seeds as being carried in capsules or fruits. Gymnosperms are non-flowering plants like pine, spruce, fir, juniper, larches, cycads, and ginkgo.
Image source: britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org
#43
Oak trees get struck by lightning most often!
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#44
Half the oxygen in the atmosphere comes from the Amazon jungle!
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#45
The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), which grows along the United States’ Pacific Coast, primarily in California, is the tallest tree in the world. It’s interesting to note that a bristlecone pine holds the record for the oldest-growing tree in the world (Pinus aristata).
Image source: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
#46
Avocados and pumpkins are considered fruits, not vegetables, from a botanical perspective since they contain plant seeds.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org
#47
When you pinch the sides of a Snapdragon flower that resembles a dragon, the dragon’s mouth will seem to open and close.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#48
One of the top six economically significant crop plant families is the rose family which includes apples, pears, peaches, apricots, quinces, strawberries, and pears.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#49
If you cry when you cut an onion, sulfuric chemicals are to fault. The National Onion Association claims that freezing the onion and slicing the root end last help to solve the issue.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#50
Known plant species number over 300,000 with the count still growing!
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#51
Asparagus is a member of the Lily family.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#52
Apple consists of 84% water!
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#53
Several plants are employed as dyes. Tea bags, walnut juice, or stewed onion skin can all be used to dye fabric.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#54
Garlic mustard is, in fact, a member of the mustard family, not garlic! In the Eastern and Midwestern United States, this invasive herb outcompetes native plants, endangering other native plants and the species that depend on them.
Image source: nature.org
#55
Peanuts are legumes related to beans and lentils, not nuts. According to the National Peanut Board, they are the only nut with greater protein, niacin, folate, and phytosterols.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#56
Midges are necessary for the pollination of the cocoa plant, which may make them seem a little less irritating.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
#57
Aquatic plants are those that can survive underwater.
Image source: en.wikipedia.org
Follow Us
