7 Plants with the Weirdest Names
Updated: Jan. 31, 2023
Plants have some of the zaniest names around. How many do you know?
1. Patent number 23,565 was awarded in 2013 for the easy-to-grow and even fun-to-say Wheee! hosta. The leaves have ruffled, cream-colored edges, and the plant develops lavender, bell-shaped flowers.
2. You can move the individual 1-inch pink or pale lilac flowers of obedient plant into a new position and they’ll stay put.
3. The dramatic, colorful tassels of the love-lies-bleeding plant (called the tassel flower in some areas) can reach 24 inches long.
4. Tickseed was named the official state wildflower of Florida in 1991, and largeflower tickseed is one of the brightest of the bunch.
5. At 6 feet, the corpse flower has the largest flower head in the world, and likely the stinkiest. It’s named for the bloom’s odor, which resembles decomposing flesh with fishy undertones.
6. The 3/4-inch blooms of Dutchman’s breeches look like pairs of cotton bloomers hung upside down from a laundry line.
7. England’s Henry of Lancaster adopted forget-me-not as his symbol when he was exiled in 1398; followers wore the blossoms to signal their allegiance. When he returned in 1399 and became Henry IV, he made the flower part of his royal emblem.
