|
1.
Commonest grass
|
Cynodon
dactylon (doob), Gramineae
|
|
2.
Deadliest plant
|
Ricinus
communis has seeds rich in poison, ‘ricin’ which is about 6000 times more
poisonous than cyanide and 12,000 times more poisonous than rattle snake
venom.
|
|
3.
Deepest Roots
|
A Wild
Fig tree at Echo Caves, near Ohrigstad, Mpumalanga, South Africa has roots
reaching 400 feet making it the deepest a tree’s roots have penetrated.
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|
4.
Densest root
|
Secale
cereale (Rye): Graminae
|
|
5.
Fastest growing flowering
plant
|
Tropical
species of bamboo reach 100 ft just in 3 months.
|
|
6.
Fastest growing non-flowering
plant
|
The
brown alga Pacific giant kelp or Macrocystis pyrifera grows 18 inches per day
|
|
7.
Fastest Growing Tree
|
In
1974, it was noted that an Albizzia falcata in Sabah, Malaysia had grown 35
feet and 3 inches in 13 months: an approximate of 1.1 inches per day.
|
|
8.
Fastest reproducing
flower plant
|
Wolffia
microscopica reproduces vegetatively just within 30 hrs.
|
|
9.
Fastest trapdoor on a
plant
|
Bladderwort,
Utricularia vulgaris, trapping process occurs with about 1/60 of a second
roughly the speed of a daylight camera shutter setting
|
|
10.
Flowering plants at
highest altitude
|
Ermaria
and Ranunculus lobatus (21,000 ft)
|
|
11.
Greatest Base Diameter
|
Waterfall Tree - Alder
Creek Grove - 57 feet (17 m) - tree with enormous basal buttress on
very steep ground.
Tunnel Tree
- Atwell Mill Grove - 57 feet (17 m) - tree with a huge flared
base, that has burned all the way through
|
|
12.
Greatest Girth
|
In the
late 18th century a European Chestnut known as the Tree of the Hundred Horses
on Mount Etna in Sicily, in Italy had a circumference of 190 feet. It has
since separated into three parts.
|
|
13.
Greatest Mean Diameter at
Breast Height
|
General Grant - Grant
Grove - 29.0 feet (8.8 m)
|
|
14.
Hardest and heaviest
medicinal wood
|
Lignum
iron wood tree, Guaiacum officinale produce produces with specific gravity of
1.37. Lignum or ‘wood of life’ gets its name from the medicinal properties of
sweet smelling resin.
|
|
15.
Heaviest wood (India)
|
Acacia
sundra, Hardwichia birata
|
|
16.
Heaviest wood of world
|
Guaicum
officinale
|
|
17.
Highest calorific value
|
Persea
americana (Lauraceae); 741 calories per pound.
|
|
18.
Highest yielding cereal
(grain) crop
|
Maize
(Zea mays)
|
|
19.
Inflorescence with high
temperature
|
Lysichiton
kamtschutkensis
|
|
20.
Largest acellular plant
(or unicellular)
|
Acetabularia
(green marine alga; 10 cm long)
|
|
21.
Largest algae
|
Macrocystis
perifera
|
|
22.
Largest amount of protein
|
Soyabean
|
|
23.
Largest and widest
cultivated crop
|
Rice
(Oryza sativa)
|
|
24.
Largest Angiosperm family
|
Compositae
|
|
25.
Largest angiospermic
parasite
|
Santalum
(Sandal wood)
|
|
26.
Largest archegonium
|
In bryophyte
(mosses)
|
|
27.
Largest bamboo
|
Dendrocalamus
giganteus
|
|
28.
Largest Banyan tree
|
In
Indian Botanical Garden, Howrah. (more than 200 yrs old; circumference of
crown exceeds 400 m; It has more than 1600 prop roots)
|
|
29.
Largest bean
|
Woody
vines, lianas or monkey ladder or “escalera de mono” (in Costa Rica
language), Entida gigas has 5 ft long pods. A pea pod looks like miniature
when compared to it.
|
|
30.
Largest bryophyte
|
Dawsonia
(70 cm), Fontinalis (Brook moss)
|
|
31.
Largest bud
|
Cabbage
|
|
32.
Largest cactus
|
Cereus
giganteus
|
|
33.
Largest chromosome
|
Trillium
govanianum (30 µm)
|
|
34.
Largest cotyledons
|
Capsela
bursa pustoris (Shepherd’s purse)
|
|
35.
Largest diameter of a
plant
|
Cestanea
sativa (167 ft, tree of hundred horses), Taxodium mucronatum (100-125 ft).
|
|
36.
Largest divided leaves
|
African
palm, Raphia regalis has pinnate leaves up to 80 ft long
|
|
37.
Largest egg
|
Cycas
|
|
38.
Largest flower
|
Rafflesia arnoldi or
Devil’s goblet (total root parasite; 1m diameter, 15 kg)
|
|
39.
Largest flower of India
|
Sapria
(total root parasite)
|
|
40.
Largest flower orchid
|
Phagmipedium
cauclatum
|
|
41.
Largest flying seed
|
Whirling
nut, Gyrocarpus
|
|
42.
Largest fruit
|
Jackfruit,
Lodoicea
maldivica (Double coconut)
|
|
43.
Largest fungi
|
Ganoderma
(wood fungus)
|
|
44.
Largest gametophytic
plant
|
Dawsonia
(moss)
|
|
45.
Largest Girth
|
Waterfall
Tree - Alder Creek Grove - 155 feet (47 m) - tree with enormous
basal buttress on very steep ground
|
|
46.
Largest grass
|
Bamboo
(Bambusa)
|
|
47.
Largest growing tree
|
Albizia
falcate
|
|
48.
Largest herb (herbaceous
tree)
|
Plantain
|
|
49.
Largest herbaceous fruit
|
Giant pumpkin,
Cucurbita maxima reported from Pennsylvania weighed 1337 pounds.
|
|
50.
Largest hitchhiking fruit
(cling seed)
|
Proboscidea
parviflora where each capsule fruit releases 40 black seeds. Each seed is
about 38 cm long and bear sharp claws called ‘devil’s claws or elephant
tusks.
|
|
51.
Largest inflorescence
|
Amorphophallus
titanium, Agave (12 m). Puya raimondii has about 30 ft tall inflorescence
bearing about 8000 white blossoms.
|
|
52.
Largest leaf (in
diameter)
|
Victoria
amazonica (V. regia or amazon lily; 5-6 ft diameter)
|
|
53.
Largest Limb
|
Arm Tree - Atwell Mill,
East Fork Grove - 12.8 feet (3.9 m) in diameter
|
|
54.
Largest number of flowers
|
Talipot
palm, Corypha umbraculifera is about 10 m tall with millions of flowers per
inflorescence.
|
|
55.
Largest orchid
|
Grammatophyllum
speciosum
|
|
56.
Largest ovule
|
Cycas
thourasii
|
|
57.
Largest pollen grain (in
diameter)
|
Mirabilis
(4’O’ clock plant); 250 µm in diameter
|
|
58.
Largest pteridophyte
|
Alsophila,
Cyathea (Tree ferna)
|
|
59.
Largest seed
|
Lodoicea
maldivica or double coconut (native of Seychelles). Single seed 12 inch (30
cm) long weighing 18 kg.
|
|
60.
Largest seed cones
|
A
gymnosperm, Lepidozamia about 0.9 m long and weighing about 45 kg.
|
|
61.
Largest sperm
|
Cycas
|
|
62.
Largest sperm of plant
|
Zamia roezhii
(0.4 mm). Visible to naked eyes and has several spiral bands of 20,000 to
40,000 cilia.
|
|
63.
Largest spreading fungi
|
Armillaria
fungus. Single thallus can spread to area of about 100 acres of forest land.
|
|
64.
Largest spreading tree
|
Ficus
benghalensis (Banyan)
|
|
65.
Largest tree (Gymnosperm)
|
Sequoia
gigantea ( Giant red wood; about 13-16 m in diameter)
|
|
66.
Largest tree bearing
fruit
|
Jackfruit,
Artocarpus heterophyllum is about 3 ft in size weighing 34 kg. the fruits are
known to develop directly on tree trunks called cauliflory.
|
|
67.
Largest undivided leaves
|
Amazonian
palm, Manicaria saccifera has leaves about 30 ft long.
|
|
68.
Largest water storage
tree
|
African
plant baobab, Adansonia digitata has the capacity to store 30,000 gallons of
water.
|
|
69.
Largest winged seed
|
The
climbing gourd, Alsomitra macrocarpa
|
|
70.
Largest worst smelling
blossoms
|
Malaysian
corpse floral arum, Amorphophallus titanum
|
|
71.
Lightest wood
|
Balsa
(Ochroma pyramidale)
|
|
72.
Longest creeper
|
Elephant
creeper (Entada pursaethia)
|
|
73.
Longest fibre
|
Linum usitatissimum
(Flax or alsi)
|
|
74.
Longest leaf
|
Raphia
vinifera (50 ft)
|
|
75.
Longest lifespan
|
Larrea
tridentata (South West California, USA, 11,300 yrs)
|
|
76.
Longest plant cell
|
Fibre
cell of Boehmeria nivea (ramie; about 55 cm in length)- Sclerenchyma fibres
|
|
77.
Longest plant embryo
|
Lodoicea
maldivica or double coconut
|
|
78.
Longest pollen grain
|
Zostera
(2500 µm long)
|
|
79.
Longest style
|
Maize
(Zea mays)
|
|
80.
Longest travelling seeds
|
Seeds
of Entida gigas are thrown miles away by bursting pods.
|
|
81.
Major source of sugar
|
Beet
root (Beta vulgaris). Provide 60% of total sugar
|
|
82.
Maximum fruits are
provided by family
|
Rutaceae
|
|
83.
Maximum life span of a
tree
|
Macrozamia
(10,000 yrs); Dracaena (8000 yrs)
|
|
84.
Maximum longevity in a
seed
|
Nelumbo
(lotus), about 1000 yrs
|
|
85.
Maximum number of
chromosomes in Angiosperm
|
Poa
litorosa (2n= 266)
|
|
86.
Maximum number of
chromosomes in plants
|
Ophioglossum
reticulatum (2n= 1262)
|
|
87.
Maximum ovules per locule
in the ovary
|
Solanaceae
|
|
88.
Maximum vegetables are
provided by family
|
Solanaceae
|
|
89.
Minimum number of
chromosomes in Angiosperm
|
Haplopappus
gracilis (2n=4)
|
|
90.
Minimum number of
chromosomes in plants
|
Mucor
(2n=2)
|
|
91.
Most advanced family
|
Compositae
(in dicots) and Graminae (in monocots)
|
|
92.
Most Dangerous Tree
|
The
Manchineel Tree of the Caribbean coast and the Florida Everglades is a
species that secretes an exceptionally poisonous and acid sap. Upon contact
to the skin, a break out of blisters would occur. In the occasions where
there is contact to the eye, a person can be blinded, and a bite of its fruit
causes blistering and severe pain. This tree has been feared ever since the
Spanish explorers came to the Americas in the 16th century.
|
|
93.
Most durable wood
|
Tectonia
grandis (Teak)
|
|
94.
Most Massive Tree
|
The
"Lindsey Creek Tree", a Coast Redwood with a minimum trunk volume
of 90,000 cubic feet and a minimum total mass of 3630 tons was the most
massive known tree until it blew over in a storm in 1905. The most massive
living tree is "General Sherman", a giant sequoia found in the
Sequoia National Park in California. It is 275 feet tall with a girth of 102
feet and 8 inches.
|
|
95.
Most painful spines
|
The
trichomes of true nettle, Urtica dioica (Bitchu butti) is rich in chemicals
acetyl choline, histamine and hydroxytryptamins causing deadliest skin
reactions to animals. The apex of trichome is siliceous which breaks open in
our skin
|
|
96.
Most poisonous fungi
|
Amanita
phalloides
|
|
97.
Most spreading plant
|
Gaylussacia
brachyera
|
|
98.
Oldest cultivated crop
|
Barley
(Hordeum vulgare)
|
|
99.
Oldest living fossil
|
Ginkgo
biloba. 1,50,000 centuries ago.
|
|
100.
Oldest plant clone
|
Lomaticia
Tasmania has adult sterile triploid plant incapable of producing seeds. These
plants have been estimated to be 43,000 years old and reproducing only of
vegetatively by suckers.
|
|
101.
Oldest tree
|
Larrea
tridentata (S.W California; 11,300 yrs); The Mein Yuch, Pinus longaeva
(sleeping moon; 4128 yrs).
Found
in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in California, the oldest tree
recognized is a Redwood known as Eternal God. The tree is believed to be
12,000 years old, although it is argued as being only 7,000 years old, which
still makes it the oldest.
|
|
102.
Oldest viable seed
|
Arctic
lupine (Lupinus arcticus). Discovered from lemming burrow in frozen arctic
tundra. 10,000 yrs old. It is now germinated and flowered by scientists.
|
|
103.
Plant having most
beautiful flowers
|
Flame
amherstia
|
|
104.
Sharpest spines
|
Opuntia
bigelovii (Jumping cholla) has sharpest spines causing deadly pain as they
break down in our skin after piercing.
|
|
105.
Slowest Growing Tree
|
A White
Cedar located in the Great Lakes area of Canada, has only grown to less than
4 inches tall during its 155 years.
|
|
106.
Smallest acellular
organism and plant
|
Mycoplasma
gallisepticum (PPLO)
|
|
107.
Smallest algae
|
Chlamydomonas
(green algae)
|
|
108.
Smallest angiosperm
|
Lemna
(Duckweed)
|
|
109.
Smallest angiospermic
parasite
|
Arceuthobium
minutissimum (stem parasite of Pinus excelsa)
|
|
110.
Smallest archegonium
|
In
gymnosperms
|
|
111.
Smallest bryophyte
|
Zoopsis
(microscopic), ephimerum
|
|
112.
Smallest chromosome
|
A
fungus (0.025 µm)
|
|
113.
Smallest flower
|
Wolffia
microscopica (W. arrhiza; 0.1 mm)- Angiospermic
|
|
114.
Smallest flowering plant
|
A
rootless angiosperm, Wolffia globossa can fit into an eye of an ordinary
sewing needle and is 0.6 mm and 0.3 mm wide. The plant is 1,65,000 times
shorter than tallest Eucalyptus.
|
|
115.
Smallest fruit
|
Wolffia
arrhiza. Weighing only 70 micrograms.
|
|
116.
Smallest fungi
|
Yeast
(Saccharomyces)
|
|
117.
Smallest gametophytic
plant
|
Chlamydomonas
|
|
118.
Smallest gymnosperm
|
Zamia
pygmia
|
|
119.
Smallest gymnosperm
|
Zamia
roezlii is about 0.4 mm in length just visble to an unaided eye.
|
|
120.
Smallest leaves
|
Scale
like leaf called prophyllum is just 0.3 mm to 0.5 mm in length belonging to
Wolffia bovealis and Azolla filicules (water fern) leaves are just 1 mm long.
|
|
121.
Smallest monocot plant
|
Galanthus
nivalis (Snowdrops)
|
|
122.
Smallest orchid
|
Bulbophyllum
minutissimum
|
|
123.
Smallest pollen grain
|
Myosotis
(2.5-3.5 µm)- Orchid
|
|
124.
Smallest pteridophyte
|
Azolla
(water fern)
|
|
125.
Smallest seeds
|
Coral
root orchid, Corallorhiza maculata has a seed weighing about one 35 millionth
of an ounce (1/35,000,000 micrograms). Some seeds are just 1/300th
of an inch whereas our vision 20/20 is just under 0.1 mm. they appear as dust
particles.
|
|
126.
Smallest tree
|
Salix
(dwarf willow), found in Tundra region
|
|
127.
Strongest gymnosperm wood
(soft wood)
|
Cedrus
deodara
|
|
128.
Tallest and fastest
growing bamboo
|
Bambusa
arundinaceae
|
|
129.
Tallest Tree
|
Tallest
gymnosperm: Sequoia sempervirens (coast red wood; about 111.25 m height.
Found in red wood park of California)
Tallest
or largest angiosperm: Eucalyptus ragnans (114 m)
Tallest
monocot plant: Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera)
|