PLANTS & NATURE

Giant sequoias, carnivorous plants, talking trees and the green half of life on Earth.

50 facts

ZAP’S PICK

The blue streaks in blue cheese are deliberate veins of fungus.

The blue streaks in blue cheese are deliberate veins of fungus.

Cheesemakers add a specific mould called Penicillium roqueforti - the same family as the medicine.

READ THE FULL FACT ▸

MORE PLANTS & NATURE FACTS

49 facts

A fungus called Cordyceps turns ants into zombies before killing them.

DID YOU KNOW? A fungus called Cordyceps turns ants into zombies before killing them. Spores infect an ant, take over its brain, and force it to climb up high so the fungus can spread. 2 min read

Leafcutter ants have been farming fungus for over 50 million years.

DID YOU KNOW? Leafcutter ants have been farming fungus for over 50 million years. They don't eat the leaves they carry - they feed them to a fungus garden that feeds them. 2 min read

Mushrooms appearing in a perfect circle aren't magic - they're a "fairy ring."

DID YOU KNOW? Mushrooms appearing in a perfect circle aren't magic - they're a "fairy ring." A single underground fungus grows outward in all directions, fruiting in a circle at its edge. 2 min read

Some mushrooms glow in the dark with their own green light.

DID YOU KNOW? Some mushrooms glow in the dark with their own green light. It's not a trick of reflected light - they actually make their own gentle glow, like fungal fireflies. 2 min read

A single mushroom can fire off a trillion microscopic spores.

DID YOU KNOW? A single mushroom can fire off a trillion microscopic spores. Spores are how fungi spread. A puffball can spit out billions in one shot of brown smoke. 2 min read

Most of a mushroom lives underground as a giant web of threads.

DID YOU KNOW? Most of a mushroom lives underground as a giant web of threads. The mushroom you see is just the fruit. The real organism is a hidden net called mycelium spreading for metres. 2 min read

White truffles can cost more than gold by weight.

DID YOU KNOW? White truffles can cost more than gold by weight. These knobby underground mushrooms sell for thousands of dollars a kilo - and pigs help find them. 2 min read

The world's first antibiotic came from a fuzzy mould growing on a forgotten dish.

DID YOU KNOW? The world's first antibiotic came from a fuzzy mould growing on a forgotten dish. Alexander Fleming returned from holiday in 1928 to find a mould had killed all the bacteria around it. 2 min read

Yeast is a tiny single-celled fungus that bakes your bread.

DID YOU KNOW? Yeast is a tiny single-celled fungus that bakes your bread. Each grain of dried yeast holds billions of microscopic fungus cells just waiting to wake up. 2 min read

A single fungus in Oregon covers an area bigger than 1,600 football fields.

DID YOU KNOW? A single fungus in Oregon covers an area bigger than 1,600 football fields. Most of it is underground, threading through tree roots - and it might be 8,000 years old. 2 min read

Mushrooms aren't plants - they belong to their own kingdom.

DID YOU KNOW? Mushrooms aren't plants - they belong to their own kingdom. Fungi are more closely related to you than they are to trees, ferns or flowers. 2 min read

Carnivorous plants eat insects to steal their nitrogen.

DID YOU KNOW? Carnivorous plants eat insects to steal their nitrogen. They get their energy from the sun like other plants - but they crave bug juice for the building blocks of life. 2 min read

Tropical pitcher plants collect their own drinking water from rainfall.

DID YOU KNOW? Tropical pitcher plants collect their own drinking water from rainfall. Each pitcher is a custom-built cup of rainwater laced with digestive juice - and animals drink from it. 2 min read

A plant called Genlisea hunts microbes with underground corkscrew traps.

DID YOU KNOW? A plant called Genlisea hunts microbes with underground corkscrew traps. Tiny soil creatures swim into a spiral root, get funnelled deeper, and have no way back. 2 min read

Some carnivorous plants have been caught eating frogs, lizards and small birds.

DID YOU KNOW? Some carnivorous plants have been caught eating frogs, lizards and small birds. They usually stick to insects. But the biggest pitcher plants will absolutely take a vertebrate if one slips in. 2 min read

A Venus flytrap can actually count to five.

DID YOU KNOW? A Venus flytrap can actually count to five. One trigger touch keeps it watching. Two close it. Five make it start digesting its lunch. 2 min read

Butterworts catch bugs with leaves that feel like greasy butter.

DID YOU KNOW? Butterworts catch bugs with leaves that feel like greasy butter. Tiny insects land on the slimy surface and stick fast - like flies on a buttered piece of bread. 2 min read

The cobra lily confuses prey with see-through "windows" in its hood.

DID YOU KNOW? The cobra lily confuses prey with see-through "windows" in its hood. Insects fly toward the light, smack into a fake exit, and tumble down into the trap. 2 min read

Carnivorous plants evolved to eat bugs because their soil is rubbish.

DID YOU KNOW? Carnivorous plants evolved to eat bugs because their soil is rubbish. They live in swamps and bogs where the dirt has almost no nitrogen - so they get it from animals instead. 2 min read

The bladderwort has the fastest trap of any plant - under a millisecond.

DID YOU KNOW? The bladderwort has the fastest trap of any plant - under a millisecond. It sucks tiny prey into a vacuum bladder so fast that scientists need slow-motion cameras to see it happen. 2 min read

Sundews catch insects with glittering drops of glue.

DID YOU KNOW? Sundews catch insects with glittering drops of glue. Their dewy "raindrops" look magical - until you realise they're a sticky, slow-acting death trap. 2 min read

Pitcher plants are slippery cups full of digestive soup.

DID YOU KNOW? Pitcher plants are slippery cups full of digestive soup. Insects (and sometimes even small mammals) slip inside, can't climb out, and get slowly dissolved. 2 min read

A Venus flytrap snaps shut in less than a tenth of a second.

DID YOU KNOW? A Venus flytrap snaps shut in less than a tenth of a second. That's faster than you can blink - and one of the quickest movements in the entire plant kingdom. 2 min read

Some flowers smell like rotting meat on purpose - to trick flies into pollinating them.

DID YOU KNOW? Some flowers smell like rotting meat on purpose - to trick flies into pollinating them. Carrion flowers ditch the sweet perfume and go for the full dead-animal stench instead. 2 min read

Some flowers actually heat themselves up like tiny biological radiators.

DID YOU KNOW? Some flowers actually heat themselves up like tiny biological radiators. Skunk cabbage can melt the snow around it by generating its own body heat. 2 min read

A hibiscus flower opens at dawn - and is dead by sunset.

DID YOU KNOW? A hibiscus flower opens at dawn - and is dead by sunset. One single day. That's all a hibiscus bloom gets to live, no matter how perfect the weather. 2 min read

Bee orchids trick male bees into trying to marry them.

DID YOU KNOW? Bee orchids trick male bees into trying to marry them. The flower looks AND smells like a female bee - confused males try to mate with it and end up dusted in pollen. 2 min read

Truly black flowers don't actually exist anywhere in nature.

DID YOU KNOW? Truly black flowers don't actually exist anywhere in nature. The blackest flowers you see are really super-dark purple, red or maroon - there's no real black pigment. 2 min read

Lotus leaves are so waterproof that mud literally slides off them.

DID YOU KNOW? Lotus leaves are so waterproof that mud literally slides off them. Each leaf is covered in microscopic bumps that make water roll right off, taking dirt with it. 2 min read

Edelweiss grows so high in the Alps that the air is thin and freezing.

DID YOU KNOW? Edelweiss grows so high in the Alps that the air is thin and freezing. This fuzzy white flower survives where almost nothing else does - by wearing a coat of UV-blocking fluff. 2 min read

Roses have been around for at least 35 million years.

DID YOU KNOW? Roses have been around for at least 35 million years. Fossil roses have been dug up in rocks far older than the first humans. 2 min read

In 1637, a single tulip bulb cost more than a house in Holland.

DID YOU KNOW? In 1637, a single tulip bulb cost more than a house in Holland. For a few mad months, the Dutch went tulip-crazy - then the whole market crashed in a single week. 2 min read

Orchids are the largest plant family on Earth - with over 28,000 species.

DID YOU KNOW? Orchids are the largest plant family on Earth - with over 28,000 species. There are more kinds of orchid than there are kinds of bird and mammal combined. 2 min read

Young sunflowers swivel to follow the sun across the sky.

DID YOU KNOW? Young sunflowers swivel to follow the sun across the sky. They face east at dawn, slowly turn west by sunset, then swing back overnight - like solar-powered dancers. 2 min read

The titan arum is called the "corpse flower" because it smells like rotting meat.

DID YOU KNOW? The titan arum is called the "corpse flower" because it smells like rotting meat. It can grow taller than a person, blooms once every several years, and only stays open for 48 hours. 2 min read

The world's biggest flower can be wider than a car tyre - and smells like rotting meat.

DID YOU KNOW? The world's biggest flower can be wider than a car tyre - and smells like rotting meat. Rafflesia has no leaves, no stem and no roots. It steals everything from another plant and just blooms. 2 min read

A big tree can make enough oxygen for two people to breathe.

DID YOU KNOW? A big tree can make enough oxygen for two people to breathe. Plants exhale oxygen as a waste product of photosynthesis - and we'd all suffocate without them. 2 min read

Trees can send messages to each other through underground fungus networks.

DID YOU KNOW? Trees can send messages to each other through underground fungus networks. A forest is wired together by a secret web of fungi - scientists call it the Wood Wide Web. 2 min read

Some olive trees are still producing fruit after 2,000 years.

DID YOU KNOW? Some olive trees are still producing fruit after 2,000 years. A few have been making olives since before the Roman Empire. 2 min read

Koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves - which are mildly poisonous to everything else.

DID YOU KNOW? Koalas only eat eucalyptus leaves - which are mildly poisonous to everything else. Most animals avoid eucalyptus. Koalas evolved a special liver to detox the stuff and snooze 20 hours a day. 2 min read

Bonsai trees can be hundreds of years old and still fit on a table.

DID YOU KNOW? Bonsai trees can be hundreds of years old and still fit on a table. They're regular tree species - just trimmed and trained to stay miniature their whole lives. 2 min read

Mangrove trees grow with their feet in salty seawater.

DID YOU KNOW? Mangrove trees grow with their feet in salty seawater. Most plants would die in seawater. Mangroves drink it, filter it, and even sweat the salt back out. 2 min read

Tree rings can tell you what the weather was like 1,000 years ago.

DID YOU KNOW? Tree rings can tell you what the weather was like 1,000 years ago. Each ring is a year - wide for good years, narrow for harsh ones, and packed with history. 2 min read

Trees pull carbon dioxide straight out of the sky.

DID YOU KNOW? Trees pull carbon dioxide straight out of the sky. A single mature tree absorbs around 22 kg of CO2 every year - and locks it inside its wood. 2 min read

A forest of 47,000 aspen trees is actually one giant organism.

DID YOU KNOW? A forest of 47,000 aspen trees is actually one giant organism. They look like a forest. They share one root system and the same DNA. 2 min read

A bristlecone pine has been alive for almost 5,000 years.

DID YOU KNOW? A bristlecone pine has been alive for almost 5,000 years. This twisty little tree was already 500 years old when the pyramids were built. 2 min read

Coast redwoods are the tallest trees on Earth.

DID YOU KNOW? Coast redwoods are the tallest trees on Earth. One redwood named Hyperion is taller than a 35-storey building - and its exact location is a secret. 2 min read

General Sherman is the single biggest tree alive.

DID YOU KNOW? General Sherman is the single biggest tree alive. This giant sequoia in California weighs about 1,200 tonnes - heavier than 200 elephants. 2 min read

Giant sequoias are the biggest trees on Earth by volume.

DID YOU KNOW? Giant sequoias are the biggest trees on Earth by volume. They can weigh as much as 30 blue whales and grow wider than a school bus is long. 2 min read

⚡ QUICK-FIRE PLANTS & NATURE WHOAS

60 bite-sized brain-zappers. Click for another.

WHOA!

Roll the dice for an instant whoa.