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Everything You Need to Know About Flowers
Flowers are delicate and interesting creatures with minds of their own. Like every other plant, flowers are living organisms. In fact, flowers have been around since before human civilizations. Part of a historical heritage, that is how long flowers have been around. Flowers also have lineage amongst themselves, and to other fruits. Meaning that, some flowers may be part of a larger family tree. Perhaps to some of your favorite fruits! The history behind flowers is long and interesting.
- 5 January 2023
Getting familiar with the details, and knowing what’s going on behind the scenes, will make any person that much more passionate about flowers. Here at Maison Des Fleurs, we are flower enthusiasts! That is why we have dedicated ourselves to writing interesting fact filled posts to both enlighten and entertain! Here is everything you need to know about flowers.
More Valuable than Gold
The value of a flower isn’t always set in stone. In some rare occurrences, flowers may outvalue even the most precious stones -gold! Several centuries ago in Holland, tulips were more valuable than gold. The phenomenon in European history was known as Tulip Mania.
Eat Your Broccoli
If you thought eating broccoli was difficult, this next fun flower fact isn’t going to make it easier. Broccoli is in fact a flower. Broccoli is classified in the Italica cultivar group of the species Brassica oleracea. Botanically, it grows as a biennial, but gardeners grow it as an annual and harvest it before the flower buds fully open. Broccoli is an active flower, it can be pollinated. However, even with the classification, the term still remains “eat your broccoli”, and not “eat your flower.”
Roses Are Red…Apples
The old Kindergarten rhyme went something like “roses are red…” However, the author left out a key ending to that sentence, and that is roses are red apples. Yes, it’s true. Roses are part of a larger fruit family and related to apples! Some other rose relatives are raspberries, cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines, pears and almonds. Just another fun fact in a long list of facts that you may have never occurred to think of.
Gerbera Flowers for a Good Night’s Sleep
Throughout history, Earth’s creations have been used for medicinal and healing purposes. Before the rise of the pharmaceutical companies, plants and flowers were the cornerstone of medicine, helping revive and heal many of the world’s sicknesses. Even till today, their powerful healing effect has not diminished, and flowers are still considered a potent medicinal influence. One good example is the Gerbera flower. Gerbera daisies emit oxygen and absorb toxins. They are a great air refresher and filter. If you want to sleep better, place some Gerbera flowers near your bed and soak in the fresh air.
The Craziness of Orchids
Orchids have to be one of the most interesting flower species that exists today. They are almost the white swan of the flower world. Majestic, beautiful, mysterious. Known to be the perfect symbolization of love. A fun fact about orchids, and a mysterious one at that, is that they don’t need soil to grow. Orchids get all the nutrients they need from air. Which is mindblowing considering that soil is one of the main factors you need to plant flowers and grow them.
Chocolate Flowers
White Flowers
Flowers Know Self Defense
It sometimes surprises people when they learn just how intelligent and aware plants are. In fact, plants are intelligent living organisms that depend and are depended upon by a large ecosystem of other living organisms. Which is why, as a plant, they must be attentive to their safety and capable of defending themselves from waning intrues, predators, and even other plants. Some plants produce toxic substances that kill other plants around them. Flowers fall in the same spectrum. The sunflower is a good example of a flower that can produce toxic substances as a way to wade off other flowers.
Sunflower’s Namesake
Sticking with Sunflowers, did you know that Sunflowers are called that because they tilt their face throughout the day towards the sun. They do this, and all the while, they track the Sun across the sky. This helps them receive more sunlight for making food through photosynthesis. Insects also happen to be more attracted to warmer flowers. Once they’ve matured, the Sunflowers remain static, facing the east direction.
Hydrangeas Determined By Their Soil!
Hydrangeas’ is a genus of over 75 species of flowering plants native to Asia and the Americas. These flowers are heavily influenced by the soil they’re grown in. Hydrangeas’ soil determines its flower color. Hydrangeas’ color is determined by the acidity of the soil it’s planted in. If the soil is too alkaline it will result in pink Hydrangeas. Much like these beautiful Hydrangeas you see here.
The Stinkiest Flower
All things have anomalies, flowers are no exception. Every group or category known to man has an ugly duckling outlier. Even when it comes to flowers. In this case it is the stinkiest smelling flower, also known as Rafflesia arnoldii. When Rafflesia blooms, it reeks like rotting flesh. An absolutely putrid smell. That is why the Rafflesia arnoldii is also known as ‘Stinking Corpse Lily’. The smell attracts insects which pollinate the plant. The bloom lasts typically around 5-7 days.
The second flower with the stinkiest smell is the Titan arum, which also happens to take the award for tallest flower on earth.
The Fun World of Flowers
So there you have it, the several fun (and some disturbing) facts of flowers! A truly remarkable organism and species. Like much of Mother Nature, there is a lot we don’t understand. When it comes to flowers, we may be only tipping the iceberg when it comes to truly understanding how these creatures operate.
However, we do have some knowledge about flowers. Which is that they are majestic, beautiful, aromatic creatures that provide joy and comfort to those that surround themselves with them! Which for the enthusiasts here at Maison Des Fleurs, and we hope for you reading this, that knowledge is comfort enough.
