Flowers That Do Things: 4 Fascinating Blooms With Weird Superpowers

Swivel Their Heads

Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana) is sometimes called false dragonhead. Its two-lipped flowers in pink, purple, or white are arranged in four rows on spikes. They can pivot around (as if swivel-jointed) so that they all face in the same direction—to the front, side, or back—presumably being obedient.

Cringe at a Touch

Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica) is a tropical native that shrinks at a touch. The leaves are made of tiny leaflets arranged in sprays of four. If you touch the base of a leaflet, it affects the sacs of a mucilaginous material, and the leaves fold up and droop, as if in a bashful collapse.

Spit Seeds

Jewelweed (Impatiens spp.) is often called touch-me-not, but not because it’s dangerous, although it can be startling. Just brushing the leaves of the plant when the seedpods are ripe can cause the pods to explode and the seeds to scatter. If you hold a pod in your hand, you can feel it struggle, like a bug.

Burst into Flames

Gas plant (Dictamnus albus) is also called spitfire plant and burning bush. The leaves, flowers, and seedpods give off a flammable gas that you can ignite with a match held under the flower cluster near the main stem.

Who knew flowers could be such drama queens? Whether they’re flinching at your touch, flinging seeds across the garden, or bursting into flames, these quirky blooms prove that plants have personalities too. So next time you’re strolling through the garden, keep an eye out—you might just catch one doing something weird. Mother Nature sure knows how to keep things interesting!