Happy Halloween, everyone! I thought for today's post, it would be fun to share some spooky, but beautiful, blooms. There are lots of flowers that look like they'd fit right in for Halloween, and others that might not look it, but certainly fit in the creepy category!
[A 'spooky' Black Batflower - Image Source: just_chaos via Flickr
I can't think of a flower more suited to Halloween than this Black Batflower - there's a White Batflower, too, but I think the black has a bigger impact! It's a native flower of the Yunnan Province in China and according to the gardening website Dave's Garden, it's scientific name is Tacca chantrieri. You'll never guess what else is a member of this flower's scientific 'order' - Yams! Yams for the Thanksgiving table and Black Batflower for Halloween, I think makes for a nice family of fall plants! 
[This is a Rafflesia - Image Source: ma_suska via wikimedia
This one kind of reminds me of the comic book character (and more recently, movie character) Hellboy. I think that makes it quite appropriate for Halloween! The Rafflesia arnoldii, as it's known, is the world's largest individual flower, growing to be up to 3 feet across and weighing 24 pounds! One of those on the front porch at Halloween might help set the spooky mood!
Those were the benign flowers, but now let's look at a few that may not look as menacing but are certainly creepy... I'm most certainly talking about carniverous plants.
[A Venus Flytrap beautifully photographed by David Yu
The first is the most well-known, and certainly one of the most frightening in terms of appearance, the Venus Flytrap. Along with all of the carnivorous plants we'll share in this post, the flytrap 'eats' small bugs, mostly flies and spiders. Inside of the flytraps 'jaws', there are little hairs that can sense movement and will make the flytrap close. The Venus Flytrap stars in a great play/movie for Halloween viewing, I might add, the classic Little Shop of Horrors - originally filmed in 1960, though I particularly enjoy the 1986 re-make featuring Rick Moranis.
[Just one of the types of Cape Sundew plant, photographed by David Yu.
The Cape Sundew is also a muncher of creepy-crawly things. When a bug tries to traipse across the arms of the Cape Sundew, it rolls right up, trapping the little bug in its hungry tendrils! Certainly deserving of our Halloween spooky flowers designation, I think. The Cape Sundew is a native of South Africa and carries the scientific name Drosera capensis. I think it's quite pretty, despite its eerie eating habits.
[Bladderwort - what a name for such a pretty flower! Photographed by David Yu.
This last flower hides its hungry nature behind a pretty blossom. The bladderwort (what a name, huh?) is also a carniverous plant, luring buggies into its hungry, inescapable grasp. There are many different types of bladderwort, but they all behave the same. It's actually quite fascinating to learn how the bladderworts eat - they have little 'hairs' like the venus flytrap, but instead closing, these hairs tell the plant to open. When the 'bladder' is triggered, it opens up and actually vacuums in the prey! There are more specific details over at Wikipedia.
There are many more Halloween-worthy flowers in the world! Do you know of one that's super-spooky? Tell us about it in the comments section!
Thanks to David Yu for letting us use some of his fantastic photographs in this blog post! He's got many more carniverous plant photos in his portfolio. Happy Halloween!
