Steve of Portraits of Wildflowers alerted me that May 18 is international Fascination of Plants Day. As you may have guessed, that is one holiday I totally can get behind!
Here are some fascinating things about plants:
- There are 80,000 species of edible plants
- 70,000 plants are used for medicinal and healing purposes
- And get this: only 15% of plant life lives on land and 85% is found in oceans
Wow, huh? Discover some new fascinating thing about plants today and share it in the comments below so we all can be fascinated, too. 🙂 Your turn!
Eliza Waters 
Unlike us, plants can reproduce both sexually and asexually. And some plants are effectively immortal (or at least they can live long enough to seem that way).
Indeed, yes– bristlecone pine, sequoia and Anne shared Welwitschia, a new plant to me, all grow for thousands of years. Thanks, Audrey!
The Welwitschia – endemic to the Namib Desert – has an estimated lifespan of between 400-1 500 years, with some specimens carbon-dated to 2 000 years old. Each plant produces two leaves per century, and never sheds them.
Wow! How cool is that?
That is amazing–Wow, two leaves a century!! Thanks for sharing that most fascinating fact, Anne.
Amazing!
Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
Gorgeous pictures, Eliza!
Western Australia has 12,000+ species of wildflowers and around 60% of these are found nowhere else in the world. We are aptly called, The Wildflower State.
The wreath flower (Lechenaultia macrantha) grows in rings and looks like a wreath. They usually grow roadside in gravel/sandy soil. I once met a couple who travelled all the way from Europe to see them!
Those facts are definitely fascinating, thank you, Dawn! Australia is full of amazing plants (and animals, too). I looked up the wreath flower and it is beautiful.
Reasons enough to care for our plants !
Indeed! Thanks much. 🙂
A lovely collection. I really like the flowing movement in the cactus shot
Thank you, Derrick!
Gardening and appreciating plants certainly quicken my pulse. I’m also fascinated by the plants I have one year that do not reappear the next. 🙂
Yes, 😀 happens here, too. 😉
Hi Eliza. Gorgeous photos! I was alerted by Steve too, and have a post coming up soon. In the meantime here is one fun fact I found: Small pockets of air inside cranberries cause them to bounce and float in water. 😉 Who knew that?! I didn’t!
Thanks, Cathy! Good share. My state is a big cranberry producer, so I did know that. They flood the bogs in the fall, causing the berries to float to the surface where they are skimmed off the top. Now that is working with nature. 🙂
Well, that is clever! 😃
I have just been looking at all the lovely comments on this post too Eliza. 👍
I don’t know if they can be considered plants, but the largest organisms on earth are fungi. And they are totally necessary for all the other plants to grow. I think that’s pretty incredible!
Indeed, good share, Earth is amazing!
Love the bees on the sunflower. Bee populations benefit from the bountiful amounts of pollen the sunflower heads offer them. We need more of these pollinators.
Amen to that. Thanks, Barbara!
What a beautiful selection, Eliza. Plants are fascinating, that is for sure!
Thank you, Dale!
Lovely gallery, Eliza. 😊
Thank you, Pepper!
Love this! Great captures Eliza 💐🙏🏼💐
Thank you, Val!
I will check Fascination of Plants Day out!
🙂
Fascinating, indeed. Especially the ocean statistics. Love that fern/hosta shot.
Thank you, Amy. 🙂
Lovely images and I also love plants…(Suzanne)
Thank you, Suzanne!
I never would have guessed that many plants are in oceans!
I was surprised, too. I think most of those species are phytoplankton, so pretty small.
Bu they still count!
Absolutely! They are a huge help with reducing the CO2 in the atmosphere. We need them desperately.
Gorgeous photographs of the flowers, ferns and patterns Eliza! 💚
Thank you, Xenia! x
Fascinating indeed Eliza!
Thanks, Cindy! JTs are the fascinating plants in your area, as your post showed. 🙂
I’ve been learning about our mesquite trees, and discovered that their seeds can lie dormant for as much as 40 years, waiting for just the right conditions to sprout. No rain? No problem! at least for 40 years or so.
Now that is a viable seed! And well-adapted to its environment. Can you imagine how many generations it took to get there??
Wonderful! I haven’t heard of Fascination of Plants Day but will mark my calendar to ensure it’s on my calendar next year 😉 I can recommend a book I recently read for anyone wishing to explore the fascinating character of plants: ‘Around the World in 80 Plants’ by Jonathan Drori. (He also wrote a book about trees around the world.) One fact he shared with some applicability to California concerned the Cook pine (Araucaria columnaris), a plant native to the South Pacific. Cook pines are unique in leaning in the direction of the equator. Those planted in California lean noticeably southwards (at an angle greater than the Tower of Pisa) but they’re nearly straight in Hawaii and lean north in Australia.
Wow, now THAT is fascinating! Wonder why they do that? They act opposite of a compass.
Fascinating. In Ireland we have relatively small number of flowering native plants, about 850
Thank you, Karina. For the area, that still sounds abundant, however.
Some places have truely amazing plant diversity
Ah, Eliza, these are beautiful! Some little known facts about plants: 1) Originally, carrots were purple. 2) Lightning strikes oak trees more than any other type of tree. 3) Sixty-eight percent of plants face extinction in the near future, making them more vulnerable than endangered animals.
Wow, great share, Debbie! #3 is particularly sobering. Thanks much for joining in.
We all live on such an absolutely amazing, intricate, mind boggling planet…and it becomes even more fascinating the more we learn about our plants and animals…and there is so much to learn and appreciate.
Absolutely! It would take many lifetimes to learn it all!
That’s quite a cornucopia, or maybe we should say plantucopia.
Thanks, Steve!
It should be called Eliza Waters Day😉🌷Glorious gallery of plants!
Ha, thanks much, Jane!
I didn’t know any of that! Thank you for the interesting education. Your photos are stunning as always and they have managed to lift my spirits this evening. Thank you for that.
Thank you, Alys, glad you stopped by!
So pretty! Cool info, thank you for sharing, I had no idea!
Thank you, Donna!
Lovely collection. Where would we be without ’em?
Indeed, we wouldn’t be at all! Every breath we take comes from plants. 😉
And they all are fascinating, aren’t they !?
Oh, yes, they are!
Beautiful series of images Eliza! Enjoyed seeing them!
Thank you, Reed. 🙂
What a beautiful collection!!!
Plants are just so fascinating!
Agreed! Thanks, Michael!