Plants That I Find Extremely Cool

Hello and welcome! So today we are talking about plants that I find extremely cool. Some of these are going to be plants you haven't heard of, some of them you may have heard of before, but I will be sharing some interesting facts that will hopefully make you think that these are extremely cool as well. Before we get into this, I just want to say that this video is sponsored by Squarespace and I'll be talking more about them later in this video. So the first plant that I first discovered this plant about a year ago on Instagram. I was just scrolling through my explore page and I saw this and at first I didn't think it was real. So it has this super interesting look to it. It kind of looks like moss or algae, you know, looks like some type of slime algae. Just look at the growth on this. By just looking at it, you may think it's kind of soft and plush, but it's actually extremely hard and dense, sort of like an armor casing. So you can see this man laying on this mound of lloreta. This is what the plant looks like up close. It's these small little clusters that expand and grow over rocks over time. Here is a closer view with some of the flowers. So these are found really high up in the Andes at altitudes of around 14,000 feet and these plants grow extremely slowly, only about one and a half centimeters a year. And some of these are extremely old, like over 3,000 years old. So because this plant grows at such extreme elevation, it needs to be able to handle really direct heat and also intense UV exposure because at high elevations, there's less atmosphere to protect from UV. It takes heat during the day, but then it also takes extremely cold temperatures at night, which is partially why they grow on rocks, because the rocks help to retain the heat and then it slowly dissipates throughout the night, keeping the temperature a bit warmer. This plant is resistant to heat, to UV, to freezing temperatures, and also to drying out. So yeah, this plant is just so cool, so impressive. So I tried to find more information to see if you can grow this plant yourself, but it is legally protected and it's not available in the trade. But I also saw that it just doesn't grow well in cultivation anyway because you can't replicate the conditions of the Andes in your house. You know, you can't replicate that extreme elevation and also the intense swing in temperatures either. Next plant is the Begonia pharox. I first saw this plant maybe around six years ago when I was in college. I went to a nursery and this was just one of the plants they were selling and I was like, what is that? And it wasn't until a while later that I kind of grew more of an appreciation for it. I wouldn't have it in my home personally because it does freak me out a bit. What I find very interesting about it is that the thorns on the leaf are not actual true thorns. They are just part of the leaf, so they're not hard or spiky at all. You know, you can actually touch them and nothing happens. Unlike other thorns, like on roses and on cactus, these thorns are part of the leaf and they can actually photosynthesize. This is the kind of environment where these Begonia grow. They grow on limestones in humid rainforest, so they're underneath the tree canopy where they don't get as much light. So for these plants, light capture is really important. And one of the reasons maybe why this Begonia has these growths on it, well, one of them is definitely like visual mimicry. So it keeps it protected from animals that might eat them, like herbivores. You know, like when I look at this plant, I think this is not to be consumed and also other mammals who eat plants probably think the same thing. But like I said, because the thorns are structurally part of the leaf, they're able to also capture light. That allows for light to be captured from different angles as well. What brought the Begonia pharox back in to my consciousness was seeing the Lady Gaga abracadabra music video. She comes out in this hat and my first thought was, that's Begonia pharox. And I'm sure a lot of other plant people thought that too. I don't know if the designer was, you know, even aware of the Begonia or specifically inspired by it, but there are a lot of similarities. And then the next plant we're going to talk about is the Utricularia. So Utricularia is a type of carnivorous plant, but I find it very unique compared to other ones like pitcher plants and Venus flytraps and sundew, just because of the mechanism of how they trap their prey. There's a lot of variation in Utricularia. There's floating ones, terrestrial ones, and semi-aquatic. I believe this is Utricularia gibba, it wasn't labeled, but this is generally what a lot of Utricularia look like. This is a leafless one, so you can see the flower here. And then these are stolons, they're runners. So Utricularia don't have true roots, but they anchor themselves with these runners. And then these sacks that are on the runners, those are called utricles. And this is what a utricle looks like. So this is how they capture their prey. In the sack, they release water and then they seal it, so that way it creates a vacuum. And then these little hairs on the outside of the utricle, when prey like microorganisms like copepods or seed shrimp, when they trigger the hairs, the trap door opens and it sucks them in. And it happens extremely fast. Then the organism dies and then the carnivorous plants absorbs their nutrients. Kind of sad, but extremely fascinating. It is pretty sad though, because I imagine you're just chilling underwater and then instantly you're sucked in by this plant that's going to eat you. I don't know, it's pretty brutal, but it's pretty cool though, right? Here is a video that I have. Yeah, it's getting mosquito larvae. See how fast that is? It is so quick. So here are some examples of Utricularia. This is the Utricularia graminifolia, also called UG. It's grown often as an aquarium plant. It has pretty specific growing requirements because it is a carnivorous plant. So it's not the easiest plant to grow, but they create these beautiful carpets with them. And isn't this plant so unassuming? You see these leaves and you think, oh, that's a nice little plant. But underneath where all of the utricles are, all the sacs are, there's some crazy stuff going on under there. It is a scary, scary zone for those microorganisms. Over here, I really like this one. This is a Utricularia reniformis. And what I like about it are the leaves. I love the pillowy kind of round leaves. They look like lily pads. And then these flowers are beautiful. Oh, I don't know if I mentioned it, but yeah, the flowers on Utricularia are stunning. So it has a cool feature with the traps, but then it also creates these beautiful flowers too. So that's what I like about... I feel like a lot of the plants on my list, they are interesting visually, but also they have some cool characteristics about them too. And then this is the one that I've grown. This is Utricularia longifolia. I love the color of the flowers. I never actually was able to get mine to flower. I just don't think I had the right conditions for it. And then this one is called Utricularia gibba. This Utricularia doesn't actually have leaves. So it only has its runners. You can see here and then the flowers and these flowers are really pretty. But you can grow this one as an aquarium plant. And what I also think is very cool about Utricularia is that they are decentralized. So you can cut off a little piece of this Utricularia and then the piece that you cut off will become an entirely new plant. Next plant is the spiral aloe. And this is such a visually stunning plant. The first time I saw this was on Etsy and Etsy, sometimes they have like fake plant listings. So I just assumed this was an edited photo. And then I looked more into it and shockingly, it was a real plant. So in their juvenile phase, they don't take on that intense spiral look. They just kind of look like regular aloes here. But after about two years, they start to show the direction they're going to spiral. What I find fascinating is that they can either spiral left or right. And I'm curious to know what is it that makes that determines the direction of the spiral. These are notoriously difficult to grow. I ended up killing mine on accident because of overwatering, but it wasn't really my fault. It was during a time where it was raining a lot. And I thought I put it underneath an awning, but then I didn't. And then it died from rot. I tried to find more information on why it creates the spiral, like what is the benefit for the plant. And what I found was they said that the pattern of the spiral helps to increase light capture. That way the new leaves aren't overshadowing the old leaves. And then another thing was that it helps to bring water away from the base of the plant. That way it doesn't rot, which didn't help in my case, but that makes sense to me. But also with evolutionary traits like this, it's hard to determine exactly what it is for. Not everything has a functional purpose. Next plant is the Marimo moss ball. And this is a plant that most people are probably already aware of. But what you may not know is that this isn't actually a moss. It is a type of algae. The algae is called Agrogopilla brownii, and this is actually my first ever aquarium plant. I don't even know, eight years ago maybe? Nine? I think maybe, oh my gosh, maybe it was 10 years ago. It's crazy. This is what got me into planted aquariums, which eventually is what got me into plants. So I do have this moss ball to thank for that. The Marimo moss ball is a naturally forming ball of algae found in Japan and in Iceland in lakes and rivers. And then they sit at the bottom of the water body. And what forms the ball is gentle tidal action that rolls the ball around so it gets light on all sides. So the moss doesn't naturally, or not the moss, the algae doesn't naturally form the ball on its own. It's determined by environmental factors. You cannot actually buy Marimo moss balls that are naturally formed in a ball because they are protected. So it's illegal to harvest them. There are other forms of it that can grow. It can grow on hard surfaces like rocks or logs and water, or it can be free floating filaments. Moss balls that you buy in stores, the algae is farm grown, and then they take the algae and then they form it into the ball. So they're not naturally that ball shape. And I experienced that firsthand when my moss ball, after a couple of years, started to unravel. And I was like, what is going on? My moss ball is disintegrating. But then I just kind of like formed it back into the ball. I find these so fascinating how they create this shape. I mean, just look at them all piled underwater like that. But I think it is worth noting that in 2021, there was an outbreak of zebra mussels that were found on Marimo moss balls that were being purchased from Ukraine. So I guess Ukraine, they farm the algae and then they export these moss balls. And zebra mussels are a highly invasive species, especially in North America. So yeah, they were like not recalling the moss balls, but kind of calling for people to destroy them to prevent the spread of zebra mussels. And these destroy waterways and ecosystems. And look at them on this propeller, just completely covering it. So for me personally, I just would not purchase another Marimo moss ball. I think the issue has been worked on, but I did see another post talking about how they were found again in 2024 at a big box store pet chain. Me personally, I would just avoid them altogether. But I know some people will still want them because they're not illegal to purchase or own in the U.S. You can't control everybody. So if you do want one, make sure that you get it from a reputable seller. I would avoid Etsy and eBay sellers because you just don't really know where they're sourcing from, who the seller is. So yeah, maybe get it from reputable freshwater plant sellers. And you can also ask them about where they source them and what kind of precautions they take to prevent the spread of zebra mussels. I was like, should I even talk about the Marimo moss ball? Because I don't want people to go out and get them and unknowingly spread zebra mussels. But I feel like more people know about the moss balls than they do about zebra mussels. So I feel like this is kind of a way to spread awareness and to practice safe Marimo moss ball purchasing. This next plant is my favorite plant on the list. I just find it so fascinating in so many ways. You'll see. There's layers to this, okay? So the next plant is Azolla. I first learned about Azolla in a course I took in college. Azolla is a fern, which is cool in itself because ferns are one of the oldest plant groups on earth. They are over 300 million years old and I think like a hundred million years older than the dinosaurs. So these are older than the dinosaurs, okay? And they're like living fossils, which in itself, ferns I find so fascinating. But then this one is also floating. So those two facts, floating fern, make it so this is enough for me to put on my list. But like I said, there's layers to this. So we got more to cover, okay? So this is how they look. I find them very pretty. They're like these feathery, very floating plants. I like dainty plants like that. So we all know that plants require nitrogen to grow. It's the N in NPK. So there's nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. And nitrogen can come in many forms. There's the atmospheric form. So there's nitrogen floating in the air. There is the organic form. And then there's the inorganic form. And plants can only uptake nitrogen in specific inorganic forms like nitrate and ammonium. So when you throw that banana peel into your garden or into your soil, your plants can't actually uptake the nutrients because the nutrients are locked up as like organic nutrients. So then they need microorganisms to break down the organic nutrients into inorganic. That way the plants can then take it up. So Azolla has a symbiotic relationship with a cyanobacterium. The Azolla and the cyanobacterium have been together for millions of years. And there are spots in the Azolla leaf that the cyanobacterium lives in. The cyanobacterium is nitrogen fixing. This means it's able to take atmospheric nitrogen and then convert it into inorganic nitrogen that the Azolla can use. Here's a little drawing I drew up just in case, you know, maybe someone needed help to understand it. So here's the atmospheric nitrogen. Plants cannot use this. It goes down into the cyanobacterium that's living in the Azolla. And see, these are two besties. There's Azolla and then there's the cyanobacterium. And then the cyanobacterium converts it into ammonia. And then because the environment of the Azolla is slightly acidic, it changes into ammonium. And then that is an organic form of nitrogen. And then that is what the Azolla is able to use. So this means that the Azolla has really easy access to nitrogen and can thrive in low nitrogen environments. I was telling Chris about this. I was like, do you find this interesting? Because I find it very interesting. So he was kind of like my guinea pig to see if people would also find this interesting. But yeah, that is one of the levels I was talking about. The next level is that Azolla is used as a biofertilizer. So because the Azolla is taking the nitrogen from the air, it is storing nitrogen in its leaves. So that means that when the Azolla eventually dies and decays, it releases that nitrogen into the water body that it was previously living in. It is used in rice farming. Here's some visuals so you can see. So when the rice is young, they add the Azolla on top of the water. And these don't compete because do you see how the Azolla isn't blocking the rice because the rice grows over the water. The Azolla is also acting as a weed suppressant because it's blocking the light from reaching the soil. So that way it prevents weeds from growing up. And then so as the rice grows, the canopy gets taller and it expands and it blocks the light from the Azolla. And then eventually the Azolla die due to lack of light. And then all that nitrogen that they have stored up in their leaves gets released into the water and then the rice uses it during grain production. It's such a perfect relationship for rice farmers. It's easy to grow, it helps with weeds, and then it adds nutrients from the air that are available for the rice. Isn't that so cool? But there's one more thing that makes Azolla very, very cool. And I'm going to go over this kind of quickly because you know we've talked about Azolla a lot already. So there's this thing called the Azolla event. Back in the super golden days of Earth, the atmosphere was filled with greenhouse gases like CO2 which made the temperature of the planet a lot warmer. And it's hypothesized that Azolla changed the climate of Earth by removing tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Nowadays you can purchase this historic plant and terraforming plant on Etsy. Like I don't know, I think that's so so fascinating. Do be careful though because the Azolla is considered invasive or at least like a noxious weed in some areas of the U.S. The next plant we're talking about is the ghost orchid. The first time I encountered a ghost orchid it was actually gifted to me and I didn't know at the time that that was a really, really kind gesture because these were expensive at this time. But when he gave it to me, I looked at it and I was like, um thank you. I don't know what this is but thank you. And this is exactly what it looked like. You know as someone who doesn't know what it is, you see it and you're like, I I have no idea what you're giving me. So the roots are photosynthetic. That is fascinating, that's a cool feature of a plant. But the flowers on these are beautiful, like the color and the shape. And I also like how they look without leaves because now it's just, it kind of looks like a flower on its own and it doesn't have the leaves to distract from it. The ghost orchid population is in decline though due to habitat destruction. It's native to Florida. There have been improvements in late tissue culture so this plant is more readily available. The next plant or plants we're talking about, it's not a specific genus or species, it's actually just like a grouping or type of plants and these are semi-aquatic plants. These are plants that can grow underwater as well as out of water. So when they're grown underwater they are in their submerged form and when they're out of water they're in their immersed form. I find it extremely interesting that plants are able to take on different forms depending on their environmental conditions. Like the immersed form of plants and the submerged form of plants often look completely different. A lot of aquarium stem plants can actually grow underwater as well as out of water. So here are some common ones. This one is water wisteria. When it's grown above water it kind of just looks like some type of mint and then when it's underwater it has these beautiful lacy leaves. And then this is Rotala h. raw and a lot of Rotala they have this round leaf when grown out of water and then underwater they're more feathery like this and it also takes on this reddish pink color. And then Rotala green, same thing except it's green. Who would have guessed? And then this is Ludwigia super red. The shape of it out of water looks pretty similar but it takes on this deep red coloration when it's grown underwater. So let's use this plant as an example and just to highlight the difference of these leaves. So it goes beyond just like cosmetic differences. So the immersed form leaves they have a waxy cuticle coating the outside of it and this helps prevent them from drying out and also gives some sun protection. Then they also have stomata underneath their leaves. So these are little tiny pores that manage gas exchange like CO2 and oxygen. Whereas submerged leaves they do not have this cuticle because you know they don't need to prevent water loss because they are underwater. Also they don't really have stomata because they don't need to manage gas exchange in that way because they do it through the through their leaves through like the epidermis. So when you take an immersed grown plant like the this Rotala and you put it underwater the new leaves that come out are going to be the submerged form and then over time the old leaves that were grown out of the water will eventually die off because they're not made to you know function well underwater. Submerged leaves also have increased surface area to mass ratio because it helps to improve CO2 absorption and also nutrient absorption and CO2 is often a limiting factor for plant growth in aquariums. That's why people inject pressurized CO2 into their aquariums and it makes such a big difference in terms of plant growth. Next up we got honorable mentions. This first one is miner's lettuce. I first discovered this plant when I was in college and I was just taking a walk and I saw one of these and I thought it was so cute. I just love the shape of this like the roundness of the leaves and the way that the flowers come out through the center and as I was looking at more information about these I found out that these are actually edible and they're described as having a sweet and crunchy taste and the reason why they're called miner's lettuce is because during the gold rush time they didn't have access to fresh vegetables so they would eat this and yeah it makes me want to try it. The internet said it tastes good so yeah I kind of want to test that out. Okay next plant is the olympic ring orchid and so I put this on here because I've just never seen anything like it. The shape of the leaves and I also love an aptly named plant like of course this one is called olympic ring orchid. My friend Jahal has one of these and the flower is cool but I think the coolest part about it is the foliage. Next is the platycerium ridleyi. This is the staghorn that got me into staghorn ferns because I mean just look at how funky this thing looks. Whenever people would come over to my house and they saw this plant and they weren't really a plant person they would always ask me about this and they thought it was so cool so yeah if you want a conversation piece at your house maybe you can get a platycerium ridleyi. I love how the fronds look like cabbage they look like cabbage heads. Okay next one this is called the silk floss tree. So I first encountered this in the backyard of the house I used to live in and I first saw it and I was like this is the ugliest tree I've ever seen because it just had leaves at the time and then it had these thorns and the thorns are kind of unsightly like they're just I don't know it kind of makes my skin crawl a bit and so I always avoided this tree. It was in the fall or early winter when all of the leaves dropped and then it put out these stunning flowers so there were no leaves just flowers the entire tree canopy was pink and this was a huge tree and I remember looking at it one day and the wind was blowing and the flowers were blowing in the wind and then they fell down and they littered the floor with this beautiful pink and I was like I am sorry I should have never judged you look how pretty you are. There are quite a few of these in LA and whenever I see them I just think of like if we were in a fantasy world and there were giants this would make for a perfect like um club you know they could just pull it out of the ground and hit people with it um yeah. Uh really quickly I'd like to talk about Squarespace who is the sponsor of this video. I've been using Squarespace for about five years now. I first started my website back in 2021 when I first started posting on social media. My main use was to drive traffic to my social media pages but I didn't want to use a third-party linking service like I'd rather drive traffic to my own website. Then after a while I wanted to start selling products so I took advantage of Squarespace's e-commerce features and I sold things like plants, art, and merch. Squarespace Domains makes it easy to claim your name and create your own custom URL name. Something important to me is a clean and simple name that's easy to search. I'm still a bit annoyed that I was too late to secure Benji Plant on Instagram. So on Instagram my name is benji underscore plant um so when I made my website I was like I need to get benjiplant.com and luckily I did. Squarespace has a ton of professionally beautiful designed templates that are easy to use so even if you're not artistically inclined you can still create a stunning website. Head to squarespace.com slash benjiplant for a free trial and when you're ready to launch use offer code benjiplant to save 10% off your first website or domain. I hope you enjoyed this video. I find plants very interesting and entertaining and I hope it was also interesting and entertaining for you as well. I had a lot of fun like you know pulling images together and looking more into these plants that I've always been fascinated by and I hope you learned something new and you had fun. I know I had a lot of fun and I will see you in the next video. Goodbye.