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The world's rarest flowers: Ghost orchids

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Anecdote > Scientific Exploration

The world's rarest flowers: Ghost orchids

The rarest flower in the world is the ghost orchid, which is a very rare plant growing in Florida, USA. The ghost orchid has very demanding requirements for the growing environment, so artificial cultivation is almost impossible, and the ghost orchids that currently exist are wild. Moreover, the United States has ordered people to strictly prohibit the picking of wild ghost orchids, and now the number of ghost orchids is very small. Nov 18, 2024

Growing Environment of Ghost Orchid


The ghost orchid is one of the ten rarest and rarest flowers in the world. It has very demanding requirements for the growing environment, and so far, there is no ghost orchid that has been artificially cultivated, and all existing ghost orchids are wild. The ghost orchid usually grows in swampy areas, or in the deep forests. It does not grow on the ground, but its roots cling to decaying tree trunks, mainly apple trees, cypress trees, oak trees and the like, but it does not absorb nutrients from the trees, it grows by photosynthesis of the roots.

 

Characteristics of the ghost orchid


The ghost orchid does not grow on the ground, its root is like a big suction cup, adsorbed on the decaying tree trunk, the stem is tightly wrapped around this trunk, it has no leaves, photosynthesis relies on its root. Its flowers are white and shaped like a jumping frog. Because its roots are close to the color of the dead tree, when the flowers bloom, they seem to float in the air. When it blows with the wind, the flowers float like a ghost, so it is called a ghost orchid, and also called a ghost orchid.

Ghost orchids bloom only from June to August a year, but not all of them will bloom, only 8% of them can bloom. And each ghost orchid only blooms one or two flowers, so there are even fewer ghost orchids to be seen. Florida State Parks opens up swampy areas to visitors every year during the blooming season to allow them to visit the ghost orchids. There are rumors that drugs can be extracted from ghost orchids, and there was a movie about going in search of ghost orchids to extract drugs for smoking.

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