GO green FoundationFacts about Flowers.
To most humans, flowers are seen as objects to decorate homes, gardens, bodies, and more. However, flowers have a much more important purpose than decorating. Flowers are the part of plants that make seeds which in turn make new plants. In order to make a seed, pollen from one flower has to combine with the eggs from another flower; this is called pollination. Flowers are highly adapted to attract their specific pollinators such as bees, flies, moths, hummingbirds, and bats just to name a few. This is why flowers are brightly colored and highly scented making them the beautiful creations that they are. The facts about flowers are that without them, we would not have food, medicines, dyes, textiles, and other necessities of daily living. There are so many interesting facts about flowers!
Interesting Facts about Flowers
- Flowers did not always exist; they first appeared 140 million years ago. Before that, ferns and cone bearing trees dominated the earth.
- Several centuries ago in Holland, tulips were more valuable than gold.
- Broccoli is actually a flower.
- Some plants such as orchids do not need soil to grow-they get all of their nutrients from the air.
- Some plants produce toxic substances that kill other plants around them-the sunflower is an example.
- Carnivorous plants are flowering plants that eat bugs and small animals! For example, the Venus fly trap has leaves covered by little hairs. When a bug lands on the hairs, the trap snaps shut and digestive juices digest the bug. Other carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants have leaves that form pitchers that are full of digestive fluids. Insects, frogs, and other small creatures are attracted to the nectar and bright colors on the pitchers and flowers. Some unfortunate critters fall in, drown, and are digested.
Fun Facts about Flowers: Weird Flowers
- Not all flowers smell good. One of the world's rarest, largest, smelliest, and strangest looking flower is the titan arum, or the corpse flower. It is called the corpse flower because it smells like a rotting dead body. The bloom is over 8 foot tall and 12 feet in circumference. They smell like rotting flesh in order to attract flies, their preferred pollinator. People have been known to pass out from the smell!
- The largest Flower in the world is the flower of the Puya raimondii, which has a flower stalk 35,000 feet tall and bears over 8,000 white flowers.
- Mimosa punica, or sensitive plant, will actually fold up its leaves when it is touched. It has whitish pink fuzzy flowers that look like little pom poms.
- The Bird of Paradise is a beautiful, oddly shaped plant that resembles a colorful tropical bird.
- Corkscrew vine flower, Vigna Caracalla, has a flower shaped like nautilus shells.
Flowers for Kids-Fun Activities to Do with Flowers
- Snap Dragon flowers look like little mouths. If you squeeze the sides of the flower, the mouth will open and it can "eat" things. When you release the sides of the flower, it will close again.
- Lunaria, or money plant, has purple flowers that turn into silver papery quarter shaped seedpods that can be used like play money or jewelry.
- False dragonhead or obedient plant has a spike full of flowers that can be bent into position.
- Hollyhocks are fun flowers for kids. They have large beautiful flowers that can be made into dolls. Cut off a flower, bud and all for the body and skirt and then choose a bud for the head. Attach it with a toothpick. Draw a face with markers.
- Press and dry flowers and make crafts. Pick flowers that can be flattened, like violets and put them between the pages of very heavy books. The pressed flowers can be made into placemats, jewelry, and other crafts.
- One of the fun facts about flowers is that some flowers can be eaten! Flowers of the squash flowers, such as pumpkin blossoms, can be fried in a batter and eaten. Violas, nasturtiums, pansies, and violets can be candied or frozen into ice cubes. Dandelion flowers can be made into jellies, added to salads, or made into tea. Before you eat any flower, make sure an adult has said it is safe. Some plants are poisonous or have been sprayed with poisonous pesticides.
- Make a daisy chain of flowers by picking flowers with long stems, making a slit in the stem, and pulling the stem of the second stem through until the flower head can't be pulled through. Continue this to make a chain which can be made into jewelry or garlands.
