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Killer Algae :)

Killer algae is an invasive species that can causes serious harm to ocean life, as it contains a chemical noxious to the fish that eat it, giving it its name.  A strain of this green seaweed, native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, escaped public and private aquariums in California, Japan, Australia, and Monaco. It has been called one of the worst invasive species (though it was eventually eradicated from California in 2006).

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Phytoplankton :)

Translated from Greek, phytoplankton means "plant wanderer." The textbook definition of phytoplankton is consisting of microscopic plants. These microscopic, photosynthesize organisms like plants, are a crucial part of the whole ocean life. These very tiny but impactful Phytoplankton are the foundation of the food web for most ocean life. There are many different types of phytoplankton, and up close you can see how cool and diverse they are.

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Suicide Palm

Discovered in 2005 found by a cashew plantation manager during a family outing, and formally described in 2008. Found in remote parts of north-west Madagascar is a gigantic palm called the suicide palm. This plant can live to 50 years, but then flowers only once, dying soon after. This plant grows tall With trunks reaching 18m in height, and huge fan-leaves up to 5m across, the palms can be seen on Google Earth. There are only about 90 in the wild.

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The Underground Orchid!!

Rhizanthella gardneri commonly referred to as the Western Underground Orchid, discovered in the spring of 1928 in the wheatbelt of Western Australia. Placed in the orchid family. Rank is Species and Order - Asparagales. This orchid spends all of its life underground. In late May and early June it will blooms its flowers underground,producing more than a hundred lightly colored to reddish flowers, and a strong perfume like sent. It only lives in western Australia in the Broom bush shrubland. This orchard cannot draw energy from sunlight like most plants because it lacks chlorophyll . Instead it takes nutrients from the roots of broom bush. There are thought to be fewer than 50 plants.

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Town-sized mushrooms

Mushrooms are often treated like vegetables. Although Fungi is closer to animals.  Like plants, they do not move, but they also don’t perform photosynthesis. Instead their source of molecules and energy are other organisms. But instead of “hunting” them like animals, they either grow on top of them (soil, trees, human feet) or on top of decaying dead organisms (dead bark, dead animals, your bread). Due to their close evolutionary relationship to animals, eating a portabello mushroom in a bun is much closer to eating a hamburger than other veggie substitutes. They can grow much bigger than any plant. The humungous honey fungus, Armillaria, is allegedly able to cover up to nine square kilometres (5.6 square miles) of forest, weigh up to 35,000 tons and live up to 2,400 years. 

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Victoria Amazonica

In the species of flowering plant is the Victoria amazonica, the largest of the Nymphaeaceae family of water lilies. The native flower of Guyana. Higher classification is Victoria and the Rank is Species.The scientific name of the giant water lily is Victoria amazonica and was named after Queen Victoria. Well known for its huge circular leaves, and they can easily support the weight of a small child, The seeds of this species can be roasted and eaten.

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Encephalartos woodii :)

The rare tree Encephalartos woodii commonly called the Cycad.  This is a tall palm with dark, glossy leaves, once found only in Southern Africa in the Ngoye forest on the south-facing slope. The only plants ever found were males. It’s extinct in the wild and produces no seeds. People have begun crossing it with its closest relative to produce ‘pups’ that, after 3 generations, are almost pure E. woodii  again. it’s Higher classification is Encephalartos and Rank-Species

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Snowdonia Hawkweed

Snowdonia Hawkweed or Hieracium snowdoniense, the plant is from North Wales. It is a perennial, with bright yellow inflorescences. It was believed to have become extinct in the early 1950s as a result of overgrazing. This may not be very interesting looking plant, but Snowdonia Hawkweed may just be the rarest plant in the world. Botanists thought it had gone extinct decades ago, but in 2002 it was rediscovered growing on a mountain slope in Wales. Its rank is species.

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Lithops Species

Some plants use toxins to avoid being eaten. Some use thorns. Lithops is a genus of succulent plants in the ice plant family, Aizoaceae. Members of the genus are native to southern Africa. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words λίθος (lithos), meaning "stone," and ὄψ (ops), meaning "face," referring to the stone-like appearance of the plants.A Lithops survives by pretending to be a rock. In  southern Africa, there are dozens of species, each generally preferring a certain type of rock to hide among. In a drought they may shrink down below the ground surface, using their translucent top coating to collect any light that filters through the gravel.They are fun plants to grow, and if carefully tended, may reward you with a yellow or white daisy-like flower.

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Pelican Flower ! :)

Aristolochia grandiflora, commonly called the pelican flower, is a deciduous vine with one of the world's largest flowers that emits an odor that smells like rotting meat, attracting flies.Higher classification is Aristolochia and Rank of Species. These flowers are almost beautiful in their strangeness. Having big inflated chambers instead of petals and intricate, colorful patterns of veins. But don’t get too close, or you won’t be able to get the dead mouse smell out of your nose for hours. This plant isn’t a carnivorous it just uses a decaying rodent smell to attract pollinators.

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CAPE SUNDEW :)

The Cape Sundew, formally known as the Drosera capensis. Native to South Africa, traps insects by slowly wrapping its “arms” (its sticky, sap-covered leaves) around its prey. This is slow, on the average about 30 minutes, and probably fairly cruel. This plant is also good at reproducing It reseeds easily and can survive a wide range of temperatures. It is on New Zealand’s list of invasive plant pests. The rank is rank: Species and Higher classification-Sundews. 

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Drakaea Glyptodon

Drakaea glyptodon is an endangered orchid from western Australia that actually smells like raw meat !.commonly known as king in his carriage It is pollinated by a single species of male thynnid wasp using sexual deception.Genus is Drakaea, Order - Asparagales and Rank Species It gets pollinated in a unique way. The red thing on the side does not  look like it belongs there, and what's that black thing on top of the red thing? Well, you'll find this appendage on all of the Drakaea glyptodon that you come across.

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Cleistocactus strausii :) !!!

The Silver Torch Cactus is wooly, formally known as the Cleistocactus strausii. This cactus grows flowers, but that isn't too unusual. Although the way the flowers are shaped is is unusual. Other cacti bloom kind of like this, just not as horizontally. This cactus is unusual in the fact that it prefers cold temperatures. It lives in the high mountains of Bolivia and Argentina and can stand frosts of up to minus 10 degrees Celsius and above 3,000 m. Higher classification is Cleistocactus and Rank of Species. 

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ELYSIA !!!

The gorgeous sea slug Elysia chlorotica was once described as “a leaf that crawls”.Chlorophyll is the green pigment in plant cells that enables photosynthesis to happen, and is one of the defining traits of plants. But some animals use a very clever trick: they steal those solar-powered factories and use them to their benefit, a process aptly named kleptoplasty. The elysia can borrow chloroplasts from its algal snacks, sucking them with a structure that pretty much looks like a straw, These sea slugs have specialized cells that can keep those chloroplasts for months. The Elysia is apart of the Animilia kingdom and the gastropoda class.

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Ceropegia !!!

This a crazy flower with fused petals and what looks like a hairy lollipop coming out of it is the Parachute Flower or scientifically named the Ceropegia woodii. Family of Apocynaceae, Kingdom group is plantae, and Order is Gentianales. The flower forms a tube lined with small hairs that point downward, so that insects attracted to the plant’s foul smell get trapped inside. The flower doesn’t consume the flies, but it holds onto them until its hairs wither, and when the insects escape, they’re covered in the flower’s pollen. Native to Africa, southern Asia, and Australia. It was named by Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus thought that the flowers looked like a fountain of wax. From this the scientific name keros began meaning wax and the word pege meaning fountain. They have many common names including lantern flower, parasol flower, parachute flower, bushman’s pipe, string of hearts, snake creeper, wine-glass vine, rosary vine, and necklace vine.

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SEA ANEMONES !!

Sea anemones some people say they are technically animals, although they look so much like plants that they are named after a group of flowers. Sea anemones are a group of marine, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria. They are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flowering plant, because of the colourful appearance of many. There Higher classification is Hexacorallia and Rank is  Order. Sea anemones in fact belong to a group of animals called cnidarians, that also includes jellyfish. Interestingly, there are even components of their nervous system that are the same as humans’, although their anatomy is very different !! 

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WITHCES BUTTER !!!

Sticking with edible fungi that look inedible, here is Witches' Butter or yellow brain and golden jelly fungus is an edible looking fungi. Formally known as the Tremella mesentericaIt, Higher classificationTremella, Rank is Species it also reproduces by both sexual and asexual reproduction. If you do happen to try to eat it, you'll find that it has no flavor. Witches' butter is currently being studied because of unique biological processes that it undergoes. Some believe that they will prove to have health benefits. It grows on recently fallen and dead trees.