There are so many attractive flowering plants in our gardens at the moment and every now and then a unique flowering plant will emerge in some gardens. These are some of the most unusual flowers in the world.
The White Bat Flower or Tacca integrifolia would be one of the most unusual flowers in the world. This native to the tropical areas of Southeast Asia is a tuberous understorey plant that can grow to around 80cm high and almost a metre across.
Flowering at the moment The White Bat Flower is creating much interest among garden enthusiasts. The very unusual flowers appear to resemble a bat in flight with velvety white wing-like petals with long threadlike tails extending from the tip of each of the flower petals.
The White Bat Flower can be grown locally but requires a protected shaded position. In the garden the large ribbed green leaves of these plants will need protection from wind, heavy rain and falling plant litter.
The Bat Flower is readily adaptable to pot culture and can grow indoors for extended periods of time.
With flowers that must strike a chord with music lovers the Clerodendrum incisum or Musical Note Plant would have to be that plant. It might just be a small bushy shrub with smooth dull green leaves. This native of Nigeria will grow up to 1.5m high in both sunny and part shade positions. It is relatively fast growing and will tolerate some drought conditions and salt winds.
The extraordinary flowers of the Musical Note Plant do not seem real. It has long tubular flower buds that are formed in clusters and resemble musical notes. That then form into long-stemmed white butterfly flowers with red stamens. These flowers are both bird and Butterfly attractive.
What would have to be one of the most unusual, yet strikingly beautiful, woody creepers that you could ever grow in a home garden would be the Philippine Jade Vine or Stronglyloden macrobotrys. A native of the tropical forests of the Philippines, the Stronglyloden are considered as being endangered species due to deforestation and the decrease of its natural pollinators.
The Philippine Jade Vine is a tropical creeper with lush, dark green leaves, is best suited to be positioned to grow above a pergola, or to have a frame support, and appears to handle local conditions exceptionally well.
This will allow the enormous clusters up to 90 cm long of bluish-green to jade green coloured flowers, resembling the shape of a parrot’s beak, to hang like bunches of grapes.
The pom pom flowering Asteromyrtus symphyocarpa or the Liniment Tree is a unique yet rather wiry, sparse shrub with a spectacular flower. Asteromyrtus symphyocarpa will grow upwards of 6m high in its natural conditions but is more likely to only grow to around 2.5m high in the home garden.
Throughout the year the Asteromyrtus symphyocarpa produces a display of distinctive red pom pom-shaped, bottlebrush-type flowers along the shrubs stems. The heaviest flowering is between May and August.
The next unique flower is this that is said to be the key ingredient in Chanel #5. The flower in question is from the Cananga odorata or is commonly known as the Perfume Tree or Ylang Ylang. The Cananga is a tall evergreen tree that commonly resembles a power pole with leaves and is a native to tropical Northern Australia.
It likes warm, moist, humid areas and will grow well in any type of soil. Cananga is draught tolerant once it is established but very tender to even the lightest frosts.
It is the flowers of this tree that makes the Cananga so unique. These blooms are very fragrant, so much so the perfume can embrace an entire yard. The flowers though not striking in colour from a distance hang and like thin banana skins.
Flowers start out a lime green colour, changing to yellow, and finally to orange after a few days.
The Cananga flowers produce oil, which is responsible for the very pleasant fragrance. This oil is used in many other applications where a fragrance is required, from cosmetics, lotions, candles, bath oils and even medicinally where the scented oil is used for its calming effects.
While these unique if not alien flowering plants might not be a regular in local plant retailers it is well worth the effort to inquire of its availability.
