Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa)

This weird, wonderful flower is quite the evolutionary produce, surviving and thriving in dry, arid climates. The blood-red petals with their bulbous, purplish-black middles make these flowers look more like aliens. Perhaps that’s why the Desert Pea is one of Australia’s best-known and most recognised wildflowers. Besides, it is also the state flower of South Australia. But just because it happens to be one of the most famous wildflowers in Australia doesn’t mean you can go around and start picking it; quite the opposite in fact. The Desert Pea is among the native Australian flowers and is a protected species. As a result, it is illegal to collect or pick any without explicit written consent of the Australian government.

Silver Vase (Aechmea fasciata)

Last and certainly not least on our list of the world’s 40 weirdest flowers comes the Silver Vase, or Urn Plant. This prestigious plant is native to Brazil and has garnered the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit for its quality and growability. Even those with without green thumbs should be able to grow the Silver Vase plant. The Silver Vase is a slow grower with broad, waxy leaves and sharp, spiky flower heads. Once the pink flower has finished blooming, the silvery striped leaves will begin to die. However, after the flowering period is over there will be offshoots, called pups, produced towards the base of the plant that you can transplant and propagate.