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10 of the World's Strangest Plant Species

Published on 9/2/2009 under Weird Science - by Gracie Murano - 152,883 views

Welwitschia mirabilis:World's Most Resistant Plant

It's not pretty to look at, but Namibia's plant Welwitschia Mirabilis can truly claim to be one of a kind. There really is nothing like it. Welwitschia plant consists of only two leaves and a sturdy stem with roots. That's all! Two leaves continue to grow until they resemble the shaggy mane of some sci-fi alien. The stem thickens, rather than gains in height, and can grow to be almost 2 meters high and 8 meters wide. Their estimated lifespan is 400 to 1500 years. It can survive up to five years with no rain. The plant is said to be very tasty either raw or baked in hot ashes, and this is how it got its other name, Onyanga, which means onion of the desert.

(Link | Photo 1 | Photo 2)

Dionaea muscipula: the Venus Fly Trap

The Venus Fly Trap is the most famous of all carnivorous plants due to the active and efficient nature of its unique traps. It may be famous, but it's also threatened. The plant's two hinged leaves are covered in ultra sensitive fine hairs that detect the presence of everything from ants to arachnids. Trigger the hairs and snap! The trap will shut in less than a second. (Link | Photo)

Rafflesia arnoldii: World's Largest Flower

There is one exotic and rare plant you wouldn't likely want to grow anywhere near your landscape no matter how famous it would make you for doing so. That would be growing the largest flower in the world. This exotic, very rare, speckled, though not particularly pretty, rust colored flower is called Rafflesia Arnoldii.

Rafflesia Arnoldii, recently assigned to the Euphorbiaceae family, is the biggest individually produced flower in the world. It gets to be 3 feet across and weighing a whopping 15- 24 pounds. That's pretty darn big but still you would not like this flower in your perennial bed. Why is that? If you could mimic a rainforest type environment for this plant, it gives off a most offensive odor when in bloom. This scent is somewhat like rotting meat. This is why it is often called the Corpse Plant by some natives of Indonesia where it originates.

Its blossoms only last three days to a week. But in those few days it needs a miracle or two just for survival. This hideous smell it produces attracts pollinating insects to it to help perpetuate the species. But even when this happens only 10-20 percent of the tiny seedlings make it. With any luck in nine months it blooms. (Link | Photo)

Desmodium gyrans: the Dancing Plant

Darwin called the plant Hedysarum; modern botanists call it either Desmodium Gyrans, or more correctly these days, Codariocalyx Motorius. Its common name is Dancing Grass or Telegraph Plant or Semaphore Plant -- after the leaf movements, which resemble semaphore signals. For all of its uses this plant is easy to grow, dancing happily on a sunny windowsill and watered when dry. Some say it dances best to the "Greatful Dead!"

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Euphorbia obesa: the Baseball Plant

Euphorbia Obesa, also known as the Baseball Plant, is endemic to the Great Karoo region of South Africa. Unsustainable harvesting by plant collectors who value Euphorbia obesa for its interesting and curious appearance has severely impacted wild populations. Consequently, national and international legislation have been enacted to protect remaining populations. While Euphorbia obesa remains endangered in its native habitat, it has become very common in cultivation. By growing large numbers of Euphorbia obesa, nurseries and botanical gardens have been working to ensure that specimens being traded and sold among plant collectors are not obtained from the wild. (Link)

Amorphophallus titanum: the Corpse Flower

A flower taller than a man, stinking strongly of putrefying roadkill and colored deep burgundy to mimic rotting flesh, sounds like something from a low-budget science fiction movie. But Indonesia's titan arum—or "corpse flower," as known by locals—is a real, if rare, phenomenon, pollinated in the wild by carrion-seeking insects. This Indonesian plant, called titan arum or amorphophallus titanium, has the world's biggest inflorescence. Due to its fragrance, which is reminiscent of the smell of a decomposing mammal, the Titan Arum is also known as a carrion flower, the "Corpse flower", or "Corpse plant". (Link 1 | Link 2)

Baobab: the Bottle Tree

Baobab is the common name of a genus (Adansonia) containing eight species of trees, native to Madagascar, mainland Africa and Australia. Also known as the Bottle Tree, not only do they look like bottles, but the trees typically store around 300 liters of water! No wonder why they often live over 500 years! (Link)

Dracaena cinnabari: the Dragon Blood Tree

Dracaena Cinnabari is a Dragon Tree native to the Socotra archipelago. It is also referred to as the Dragon Blood Tree and Socotra Dragon Tree. It is one of the most striking of Socotra's plants, a strange-looking, umbrella-shaped tree. It was first formally described by Isaac Bayley Balfour in 1882. A miniature Icon of this tree is in Windows as Network-Icon. Its red sap was the dragon's blood of the ancients, sought after as a medicine and a dye. (Link 1 | Link 2)

Mimosa púdica: the Shy Plant

Mimosa Pudica (pudica = shy), or the Sensitive Plant, has a curiosity value: the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched or shaken, re-opening within minutes. The species is native to South America and Central America, but is now a pantropical weed. Who would know that plants have feelings too?


(Link)

Selaginella lepidophylla: the Resurrection Plant

Also known as Rose of Jericho, the Selaginella Lepidophylla is a species of desert plant noted for its ability to survive almost complete desiccation; during dry weather in its native habitat, its stems curl into a tight ball and uncurl when exposed to moisture. It is native to the Chihuahuan Desert. (Link | Photo)

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10 Things Global Warming Could Change Forever

Published on 9/24/2009 under Weird Science - by Gracie Murano - 128,033 views

Great Barrier Reef may be gone in 20 years

The Great Barrier Reef will be so degraded by warming waters that it will be unrecognizable within 20 years. Charlie Veron, former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, told The Times: “There is no way out, no loopholes. The Great Barrier Reef will be over within 20 years or so.” Once carbon dioxide had hit the levels predicted for between 2030 and 2060, all coral reefs were doomed to extinction, he said. “They would be the world's first global ecosystem to collapse. I have the backing of every coral reef scientist, every research organization. I've spoken to them all. This is critical. This is reality.”

(Link)

Amazon Rain Forest may turn into a desert

Teeming with millions of species and one-fifth of the world's fresh water, the Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest. However, global warming and deforestation are reversing the forest's role as a carbon sink, converting 30-60% of the rainforest into dry savannah. Projections show the forest could disappear completely by 2050. (Link)

Sahara Desert may become green

Scientists are seeing signals that the Sahara desert and surrounding regions are greening due to increasing rainfall. If sustained, these rains could revitalize drought-ravaged regions, reclaiming them for farming communities. This desert-shrinking trend is supported by climate models, which predict a return to conditions that turned the Sahara into a lush savanna some 12,000 years ago. (Link)

Hurricanes may become more devastating than Katrina

It has not been determined whether Katrina was linked to global warming. But there are indications that global warming will produce more Category 5 hurricanes --and Katrina was only Category 4 when it hit Louisiana. Hurricanes derive their power in part from warm water, and so forecasting models show future hurricanes becoming more severe as sea surface temperatures rise. Global warming also makes hurricanes more destructive by raising the sea level, which leads to more serious coastal flooding. (According to the EPA, a two-foot rise would swallow a chunk of the U.S. bigger than Massachusetts.) (Link | Photo)

London may disappear underwater by 2100

It isn't only reefs and low-lying islands that are under threat from global warming. In fact, a major threat is for those large urban areas which are at risk of eventually being submerged underwater. This is caused by a change in sea levels that occurs when global warming takes place, resulting in coastal cities being destroyed by flooding. Dozens of the world's cities, including London and New York, could be flooded by the end of the century, according to research which suggests that global warming will increase sea levels more rapidly than was previously thought. London is one of the major world capitals at high risk of this type of flooding, as depicted in this shot from the 2007 movie Flood. Scientists say that the city could be under water as early as within the next one hundred years. (Link)

Animals may shrink

Warming climate may favor small species over large ones. The research, based on analysis of body mass of fish, plankton, and bacteria in European ecosystems, comes just weeks after scientists reported that sheep on a Scottish island are shrinking due to warmer conditions.

The new study reveals that individual species lost an average of 50 percent of their body mass over the past 30 years. The reduced body size is the third universal ecological response to global warming. An earlier sheep study suggested that shorter and milder winters mean lambs do not need to put on as much as weight as they once did in order to survive their first year of life, a factor that could also impact fish populations. Nonetheless the researchers say the shift could alter food chains, with apex predators being particularly affected by shrinking prey. (Link 1 | Link 2)

2,000 Indonesian islands may disappear

At least 2,000 small islands across archipelagic Indonesia may disappear by 2030 as a consequence of excessive mining and other environment-damaging activities. Indonesia has already lost 24 of its more than 17,500 islands. (Link 1 | Link 2)

Global warming may increase terrorism

Global warming could destabilize "struggling and poor" countries around the world, prompting mass migrations and creating breeding grounds for terrorists. People are likely to flee destabilized countries, and some may turn to terrorism. The conditions exacerbated by the effects of climate change could increase the pool of potential recruits into terrorist activity. According to the chairman of the National Intelligence Council in the US, economy refugees will perceive additional reasons to flee their homes because of harsher climates. That will put pressure on countries receiving refugees, many of which will have neither the resources nor interest to host these climate migrants. (Link)

The Alps may melt completely

Glaciers are retreating in warm, dry winters and hotter summers caused by global warming, and although snowfall in the 2008-2009 ski seasons was substantial, overall recent years have seen less snow at low altitudes, and receding glaciers and melting permafrost higher up - with a significant impact on winter tourism activities. It is predicted that the glaciers will be gone between 2030 and 2050. Italy and Switzerland have decided to redraw their border after global warming dissolved Alpine glaciers that marked out the frontier between the two countries. (Link 1 | Link 2)

The Maldives may be submerged

The lowest and flattest country in the world is suffering coastal erosion, and could find itself submerged if sea levels carry on rising, with the islands growing smaller and smaller. This extreme prediction is a devastating prospect for residents and bad news for the tourists who descend on its soft white beaches and warm waters each year. Scientists give it only about one hundred years before it completely disappears into the ocean surrounding it. (Link)

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10 Fascinating Frozen Wonders of Nature

Published on 6/25/2009 under Weird Science - by Gracie Murano - 132,746 views

Frozen Waterfalls

The growth of a frozen waterfall can proceed only gradually, for progressive freezing of the flowing water. There are thousands of frozen falls around the world. The one located at Beijing's Myun County attracts tourists from all over the country as well as internationally. A beautiful display of nature's art at work.

Ice Caves

Ice caves are a type of natural cave that contain significant amounts of ice. At least a portion of the cave must have a temperature below 0 °C (32 °F) all year round, and water must have traveled into the cave's cold zone. There are many ice caves throughout the world, but the Eisriesenwelt Ice Caves in Austria are some of the largest known to man.

(Link)

Ice Circles

A rare phenomenon usually only seen in extremely cold countries, scientists generally accept that Ice Circles are formed when surface ice gathers in the center of a body of water rather than the edges. A slow moving river current can create a slow turning eddy, which rotates, forming an ice disc. Very slowly the edges are ground down until a gap is formed between the eddy and the surrounding ice. These ice circles have been seen with diameters of over 500 feet and can also at times be found in clusters and groups at different sizes. (Photo by Brook Tyler) (Link | Photo)

Ice Spikes

These amazing ice spikes, generally known as penitentes due to their resemblance to processions of white-hooded monks, can be found on mountain glaciers and vary in size. As this accelerates, deep troughs are formed, leaving peaks of ice standing between them. Chile is home to the rugged mountain terrain of the Andes, and the severe weather extremes at different altitudes make for some stunning ice formations, like daggers looking ice field. (Link | Photo)

Ice Shelves

Ice takes on all sorts of interesting asymmetrical and geometric shapes, from the icy platelets above to the incredible parallel ice shelves of the Arctic. Ellesmere Island is famous for its ice shelves, but unfortunately they are diminishing rapidly in the face of global warming. Climate change caused alarming losses in summer of 2008, and scientists are concerned that this special ecosystem may soon be lost forever. (Link | Photo)

Ice Flowers

Ice flowers are formed on new layers of sea ice, from saturated water vapors that come up from under the ice through cracks. In contact with the cold air, the vapors start to freeze and the salt on the surface of the ice begins to crystallize and serves as a nucleus for the frozen vaporized water. Thus, molecule by molecule the ice flowers begin to take shape. They have recently been recognized as the dominant source of sea salt aerosol in Antarctica and scientists suspect they may be the main cause of tropospheric ozone depletion during the polar sunrise. One of the most beautiful frozen wonders on Earth, ice flowers are still a mystery to many people.
(Link | Photo 1 | Photo 2)

Striped Icebergs

Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea. (Link | Photo)

Glaciers

Glaciers are simply accumulated snow, packed densely into ice over thousands, even millions, of years. Glaciers serve an important function as ecosystem regulators and water suppliers (they are the largest single source of fresh water), and the heating of the planet has led to major glacier shrinkage around the world in the last decade. Perito Moreno in Argentina, known as one of the few still advancing glaciers on Earth, is a great example of that simple yet stunning ice formation. (Photo)

Snow Flakes

Snow crystals form when tiny supercooled cloud droplets freeze. These droplets are able to remain liquid at temperatures lower than −18 °C (0r °F), because to freeze, a few molecules in the droplet need to get together by chance to form an arrangement similar to that in an ice lattice; then the droplet freezes around this "nucleus." (Link | Photo 1 | Photo 2)

Frozen Tidal Wave?

Despite its looks, this is not really a tidal wave but ice created from glacial movements forming tidal wave looks. Pretty cool. (Link)