The Rainbow Eucalyptus is a tree with bark so brightly colored that it is almost hard to believe that it is not an elaborate practical joke. This tree, native to the Philippines, sheds the outer layer of its bark often to expose new, green bark underneath. As the bark ages it goes through several color changes from green, to blue, to purple, to orange, and finally to brown before being shed. Because the bark is shed in irregular patches the tree displays a collection of all these colors at once giving a kaleidoscopic effect. They can be grown in many places which will not experience frosts but in the Philippines they are mostly cultivated for use in paper manufacture and not as decorative trees.
Welwitschia Mirabilis
This odd plant stumped taxonomists for years. A desert plant found in South Africa, the thick welwitschia mirabilis generally possesses only two leaves, but these leaves curl and tangle as the plant grows (it often lives over 1,000 years) and becomes a jumbled, tough mass spanning 6 feet or more.
Dragon Blood Tree
The Socotra Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia, is home to the Dragon Blood tree. The Dragon Blood tree is unusual for a number of reasons. Its trunk is bare and branches only at the top, ending in sharp spiky leaves. This unusual appearance is due to the Dragon Blood tree belonging to the monocotyledons, the same group of plants as grasses, rather than dicotyledons, which are more common amongst trees. As well as an unusual exterior, the trees also reveal an unusual interior; once pierced bright red sap oozes out. The crimson sap, called Dragon Blood, is dried and then used as a medicine or a dye. While the inhabitants of Socotra still use it as a panacea, the sap is mostly used in the West as a red varnish for violins.
Titan Arum
The titan arum or amorphophallus titanum (basically, titanic penis) is not the world’s biggest flower, but it does have the world’s biggest inflorescence. Like the rafflesia, it also grows in Sumatra and also is called the corpse flower after its notoriously rotten stench.
Baseball Plant
This incredibly popular house plant is virtually extinct in the wild due to habitat destruction and the botanical equivalent of poaching. Its sap is poisonous, but it does make an attractive yard ornament. Unfortunately humans have not balanced their desire to grow the baseball plant in their gardens with the need to preserve natural populations of the plant.
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