• Question: What is the most unique plant on Earth?

    Asked by anon-358211 on 30 Mar 2023.
    • Photo: Alison Tidy

      Alison Tidy answered on 30 Mar 2023:

      Due to how plants can adapt and evolve to their environment means that plants can be so different from tiny algae that lives only in the South pole to the giant redwoods to the carnivorous plants. I don’t think anyone knows the most unique plant and they are still being newly discovered all the time.

      One of my favourites is the ghost plant, unlike other plants it does not have chlorophyll so is unable to photosynthesise. However unlike other parasitic plants it does not rely on other plants but has a symbiotic relationship with fungi for its energy/food. As not reliant on other plants it grows in the darkest of forests where other plants can’t grow and also gives off an ethereal glow.

    • Photo: Alexandra Milliken

      Alexandra Milliken answered on 30 Mar 2023:

      Technically, all plants are unique in their own way, a bit like each of us are unique. However, Middlemist’s Red camellia is one of the rarest plants in the world, with only two known examples left in the world (one in New Zealand and one here in the UK).

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