We’ll bet you didn’t know youcancut onions without crying.
Here are some fun and interesting facts about plants.
There’s a lot more to our plants than many of us realize.
Credit: Andy Lyons
Here are 30 interesting facts about plants you may not have knownuntil today, of course.
1.Torenia,a shade-loving annual, is called thewishbone flower.
Look for tiny wishbone-shaped stamens inside the purple, blue, or burgundy petals.
Credit: Andy Lyons
3.Bamboo is the fastest-growing woody plantin the world.
It can grow up to 35 inches in a single day.
The ancient Egyptians were the first to record the process of making herbal wine about 5,000 years ago.
Credit: Blaine Moats
During the 1600s in Holland,tulips were so valuablethat their bulbs were worth more than gold.
The craze was called tulip mania, or tulipomania, and caused the crash of the Dutch economy.
Pineapples are the only edible members of the bromeliad family.
Credit: Bill Holt
Small pockets of air inside cranberries cause them to bounce and float in water.
The bloom produces an odor similar to rotting meat, hence the common name ‘corpse flower.’
A similar odor comes fromRafflesia,another plant that hails from the rainforests of Sumatra.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Both developed their scent to attract pollinating flies; they don’t compete with other blooms forbutterflies and hummingbirds.
Other lovely plants are equally harmful, even lethal, to the unaware.
15.Irismeans “rainbow” in Greek, and Iris was the goddess of the rainbow in Greek mythology.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
In France, May 1 isLa Fete du Muguet,the festival of thelily-of-the-valley.
The celebration includes giving bouquets of flowers to loved ones and wishing them health and happiness.
Angiosperm is the scientific name for flowering plants and refers to the seeds being borne in capsules or fruits.
Nonflowering plantspines,spruces,firs,junipers,larches, cycads, and ginkgoesare called gymnosperms.
Thefirst potatoeswere cultivated in Peru about 7,000 years ago.
21.Peaches,pears, apricots, quinces, strawberries, and apples are members of the rose family.
So are ornamental species such asspirea, mountain ash,goatsbeard, andninebark.
Cranberries, Concord grapes, andblueberriesare three popular fruits native to North America.
The main difference between nectarines andpeachesis that nectarines have smooth, not fuzzy, skins.
The averagestrawberryhas 200 seeds.
It’s the only fruit that bears its seeds on the outside.
Sulfuric compounds are to blame for cut onions bringing tears to your eyes.
According to theNational Onion Association, chilling the onion and cutting the root end last reduces the problem.
Garlic mustard is a member of the mustard family, not garlic.
Both were known in the fossil record before they were found alive.
Trees are the longest-living organisms on earth.
29.Peanutsare not nuts but legumes related to beans and lentils.
The title for the world’s hottestchili pepperremains contested.
