What Are Some Fun Facts About Flowers?

What are some fun facts about flowers? Flowers are totally fascinating, and while most people find them pretty and know a few scientific basics about them, not everyone is aware of all the crazy and downright amazing things that go on “behind the scenes” of a flower's life cycle.

Here is a brief list of some random, interesting, fun factoids about flowers, nature's most colorful and noticeable decorative bloom. Next time you pass a pretty garden or get a bouquet for a gift, you'll be able to pull out some unique “did you knows” and impress your friends!

Fun Flower Facts... In No Particular Order

• Rose blooms are edible (don't try this at home, necessarily, but they're said to taste like apples, strawberries, and other delicious fruits... as you probably can imagine they would!).
• Speaking of fruits... pears, apples, cherries, plums, apricots, and peaches are all related to roses.
• In the 1600s, tulip bulbs were more valuable than gold. Some consider this to have been the ultimate "bubble" created by artificially inflated demand (much like housing or real estate bubbles, or tech bubbles of the modern era).
• There are over 250,000 species of flowering plants known on the earth today.
• Tulips live only 3 to 7 days.
• Chrysanthemums are considered unlucky as indoor flowers in Malta, since they are known as the flower used at funerals. In certain other cultures as well, flowers are only sent at times of death so if you are sending a gift to someone with a different cultural heritage than you, you may want to make sure you aren't accidentally sending an unlucky message. 
• Saffron, the expensive yellow-tinted spice considered a delicacy by fine chefs, is derived from a type of crocus flower.
• Broccoli is considered a flower (and also a vegetable).
• Bees and other insects that pollinate flowers have special vision that can see colors and markings that humans cannot; therefore, a flower that looks relatively plain to us can be a rainbow of colors and designs to an insect.
• Flowers work on time schedules depending on when they open and close, and when the insects that pollinate them tend to fly. For example, the 4 o'clock flower opens in the evening because it is pollinated by a hawkmoth, which comes out at twilight.
• Some flowers are pollinated by bats; they are also, therefore, naturally designed to attract bats. You can often tell them from others because they have large, open blooms, grayish desaturated colors, and somewhat musty, sharp smells.
• Lilies are one of the oldest plant types known in the world, and have appeared in art for centuries gone by.
• Some flowers are used for medicinal purposes, along with herbs and other types of plants.
• The tallest angiosperm (a term used for flower-producing plants) in the world grows in Australia and is known as the Australian Mountain Ash; it can reach heights over 100 meters.
• Flowers are seen by some as having a specific meaning. At Go Unique and Beyond, you can find a detailed chart that contains a very long list of flowers along with what each flower means. For example, the list indicates that ambrosia flowers mean "your love is returned," while Acadias are concealed, hidden or platonic love.

So, now you know lots of fun facts about flowers and you'll never look at sending a floral gift in quite the same way again.