Share plants you think are the strangest looking! You don't have to own them.

Elephants Foot, looks like a vine, soccer ball, and turtle shell all in one!

Is this a Halloween thread? How about trees that consume structures? I'm not sure which trees these are - likely known as Ficus gibbosa which I think has officially been changed to Ficus tinctoria ssp gibbosa (but a Google search will turn up more images under the old name) or perhaps Ceiba pentandra. Likely both are seen in the photos, but I'm not informed enough to know which is which. In any case, my photos were taken at Ta Prohm temple in Cambodia which has been left as is. The stone structures are huge and seeing the trees growing and tearing them apart was fascinating to me.














Watch out for the trees if you go trick or treating!

needrain said:Is this a Halloween thread? How about trees that consume structures? I'm not sure which trees these are - likely known as Ficus gibbosa which I think has officially been changed to Ficus tinctoria ssp gibbosa (but a Google search will turn up more images under the old name) or perhaps Ceiba pentandra. Likely both are seen in the photos, but I'm not informed enough to know which is which. In any case, my photos were taken at Ta Prohm temple in Cambodia which has been left as is. The stone structures are huge and seeing the trees growing and tearing them apart was fascinating to me.
















Watch out for the trees if you go trick or treating!

It's not a Halloween thread, any strange plant counts, whether it looks strange, or grew strange, in your case the tree grew oddly.

These trees are living sculptures grown and created by the late Axel Erlandson which formed part of his Tree Circus collection in 1946. They are now found at the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in Gilroy, CA. There are about 25 of these circus trees remaining..but I only got 3 pictures when we went there in March 2007.

Mr. Erlandson used sometimes several Sycamore trees, Box Elders, Ash trees, shaped them, trained them, grafted them, to come up with this fantastic strange looking living trees.

This is my tillandsia bulbosa..with its medusa-like leaves:



Euphorbia obesa..simple looking..does not even look like a plant really..like a green baseball..luckily, it blooms either you get a male or female E. obesa. My plant is a female E. obesa



And my caudex forming plants: strange looking fat trunks, and so cute
Adenium obesum



Beucarnea recurvata commonly known as elephant foot palm, but it is not a palm


Ficus microcarpa ginseng:

@keithp2012, how long have you been growing the Elephant's Foot plant in the photo? I think they are slow growers, right?

Lovely Dioscorea Keith!

This is a very old Douglas fir that is growing along the Puget Sound coast line (Deception Pass State Park) and has been twisted by the strong winds. It has an informational plaque that includes the Shel Silverstein quote, "Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk." I'm sure many many children have done just that.

greene said:@keithp2012, how long have you been growing the Elephant's Foot plant in the photo? I think they are slow growers, right?

I haven't, I just shared a photo. I am growing something though that's perfect for this thread. It's Amorphophallus konjac, also known as voodoo Lily. In late spring through fall it grows a single leaf that looks like a tree, it dies and then early spring the bulb sends up a tall stalked flower that's purple and stinks like rotting flesh, it's a relative of the largest flower on earth.

Ah, yes, similar to the famous Perry the Corpse flower; better viewed from a distance... a long distance from the nose.
Amorphophallus titanum. They keep a camera rolling all the time so people can watch this strange plant. https://gustavus.edu/search/?q...

How is this one for strange??



Original uploader was Roger Zenner at de.wikipedia.
Originally from de.wikipedia; description page is/was here.Welwitschia (Image Public Domain)

Looks kind of like a pile of washed up seaweed!

knees
Bald Cypress - Ft Worth Water Garden

This was in Puerto Rico.

This is some sort of maple on a golf course in south Seattle -- big, old, and narly.

along the South Fork, Sangamon River, central Illinois

I'm not sure how strange looking this is, but it's and interesting plant.
Orobanche ludoviciana, only the bloom reach above ground level.

jmorth said:along the South Fork, Sangamon River, central Illinois

A tree monster! That's great!

Jay, is the Orobanche ludoviciana growing in coastal terrain?

Yes, I photographed these in the sand dunes at San Luis Pass, west end of Galveston Island.