amazing plants

Lookie at this strange flower:



It's a Stenocarpus sinuatus - an Australian tree.

I want one.

You can see why they're called a firewheel tree. It's one of my wife's favourites.

>1 2wonderY:

That looks unreal!!

>1 2wonderY: That is so AWESOME! It always amazes me how strange plants can look.

Australia is a mere hint of what to expect if we find life on other planets.

When I taught Sunday School, I would have the kids try to design a leaf that God hadn't thought of. I had some very thorough books of photographs on the subject. It was nigh impossible. Creation is amazing!

>6 2wonderY:

What a neat project for kids!

Asking advice.

Someone gave me seeds last year which I've discovered are exceedingly fertile.

Has anyone had experience with Cinnamon Vine/Air Potato

or Trifoliate Orange?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifoliate_orange

They both have characteristics of invasive pest plants.

Should I keep them in pots inside or allow them to propagate outside?

Passiflora parritae

>9 2wonderY: That's lovely. How big does that flower get? compared to the leaf it looks quite large.

Huge, but rare because hummingbird pollinators have moved due to climate change.

More lovely pics and info:
http://www.strangewonderfulthings.com/168.htm

Here's one I can't identify:



Does anyone know what it is?

Hardy Tapioca Plant:



Manihot grahamii

grows to 10 feet tall.

That's pretty!
But too tall for my garden.

It appears that the common varieties don't have the precise cut-out pattern to the leaflets.

>12 2wonderY: the pattern is similar to Lantana...

Addendum: here's one of my Lantana blooms:

>16 fuzzi: BTW, I think you hit it right on.

Here's another coolio plant:



Crassula umbella

Woah...that is very unusual!

Ecalypyus pods?

My favorite is one of the many species known as "night-blooming cereus", specifically the one native to Arizona, Peniocereus greggii. They bloom once a year, for one night, with all the plants in an area blooming on the same night (as needed for pollination). The rest of the year they look like dead, thorny sticks; on that night they look like dead, thorny sticks with big, white flowers.

Here's a photo my wife took at Tohono Chul park in Tucson, which has a large collection - they stay open late once a year for "Bloom Night".

This one made me laugh



Psychotria Elata

The Creator definitely has a sense of humor.

>21 2wonderY:

Can we keep this about plants rather than introducing creationism debates, please?

>22 lorax: relax, there's nothing about God or Creation in that link, I checked. :)

Here's a nifty one, look:

>23 fuzzi:

I didn't dare check, given the tag line. Thanks.

>22 lorax: Belief in a creator does not usually (statistically) demand a belief in Creationism. Sorry you took offense. I do know this isn't Let's Talk Religion, but I would hope I'm not censored here from expressing that I am a believer in passing.



Hoya lasiantha

Do follow that link! I think my favourite is the naked men - flowers that is.

"Diphylleia grayi" (Skeleton flower) ~ The petals turn transparent with the rain.

Amazing!

>27 2wonderY: Amazing!!!

>27 2wonderY: wow, nice find!

Checked with my local retailer and she can't find it for me. I may have to order from a catalog site.

Takes my breath away! Thanks for sharing. Wow!

>23 fuzzi: fuzzi: In that pic, I can see what looks like a bird in flight, looking down at me and with his tail curled back towards his face!

>32 CassieBash: I see it, now that you mentioned it! Thank you. :)

From what I can tell via Google, the flowering plant here might be called a jeweled carpet flower. If it's not that it might be a budding lantana camara.

>34 Solo-Star: I'm not so sure about the name. From what I can tell of the Google search, the owner of the photo just titled his photograph "Flowers Like Jeweled Carpet." I think the original photo is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/morganm7777777/2987674713/. One of the tags on that page says "arboretum."

No, after looking at many links to that image, I saw one that said the "jeweled carpet" is endemic to the Phillipines. Other link referred to it as a tropical plant. I suspect based on various search results that "jeweled carpet" is the common term for this plant and not a made up one by a photographer, etc. I know the link you are referring to and arboretum, like you said, was one of many tags but that does not mean that jeweled carpet is made up term for the image. It could be but I saw other links/pages to the image indicating otherwise.

Lesmel: On second thought after more sleuthing, I concluded that you are probably right. Jeweled carpet term may not be the common name for this plant. But I've also concluded the image is probably some type of lantana camara bud. Maybe too some of the exterior petals were plucked off prior to snapping the photo. I saw several images that looked similar enough to make me think it is a lantana camara bud. Wikipedia says the lantanas fall into the verbena group and there are 150 varieties in that group.

http://www.seenobjects.org/images/mediumlarge/2004-12-28-lantana-buds.jpg

>37 Solo-Star: Looks pretty similar to me! Makes sense that >16 fuzzi: would guess Lantana, too.

They look like monkey heads!
Orchid - Dracula Saulii

It is the year of the monkey. These are very popular in Japan.

Aren't these seedpods pretty? The pin says Australia, but no other information.

St. Benedict’s herb (herba benedicta)

>41 2wonderY: Google Images says Argyrodendron trifoliolatum

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2012/07/galler...

Beautiful images, thanks for sharing them.

So this might be the place to post about the walk I took with my mother in the Piney Woods Nature Preserve, best known for being the home of the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden. As it happens (fuzzi might know this), Wilmington, NC is apparently the only place in the world where venus flytraps are native. They can be found in about a hundred mile radius and nowhere else, so they are considered at risk. Rehder was a plant man dedicated to their preservation, along with the conservation of the other carnivorous plants that can be found native to the area -- several species of pitcher plants and a little thing called a "sundew." My grandparents were friends with Rehder, and card-carrying members of what used to be called the Sarrecenia Preservation Society (I think) and now seems to be folded into the International Carnivorous Plant Society.

Here's a Venus Flytrap



And a close up of the sundew at the bottom of the picture:



Here's a pitcher plant, S. rubra, also known as the "Sweet Pitcher Plant"



And here is what a pitcher plant in flower looks like (this is the Yellow Pitcher plant), very Seussical:



And here's a link to the photos I took of our walk: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10209644338851739.1073741874.142708141...

Euphorbia obesa

>45 southernbooklady: oh, I am SO planning a trip! Wilmington isn't far, about 90 minutes, maybe 2 hours' drive from here. :)

Here it is: http://www.wilmingtonnc.gov/community_services/parks_recreation/piney_ridge_natu...

>45 southernbooklady: & >47 fuzzi: Ooh, carnivorous plants in the wild! I wanna go! Take me with you, fuzzi! :)

identified as from Mexico - Cornus florida subspecies urbiniana

>49 2wonderY: Oh, wow! that's so pretty!

Pachypodium namaquanum

I do so like lacy in plants

>52 2wonderY:

Wow, is that a plant? It looks like a fungus!

Oops, sorry. It's been so long since I've taken a formal biology course that I mis-remember that fungi have their own kingdom now. BTW, who rules there?

It looks like a close up of lantana buds before they open

>55 jackiep126: Welcome to LibraryThing and this group.

Syzygium moorei (Coolamon, Watermelon Tree)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JkDNqHmxlgo