- Thousands of tiny flowers joined by a base make up a single sunflower head.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
There are between 250,000 and 400,000 species of flowers on planet earth, making up 462 different families. Only about 85 percent of these species have been cataloged. There are 1,300 species of begonia alone, not including hybrids. The Australian mountain ash, or Eucalyptus regnans, ranks as the tallest flower on Earth, while the watermeal clocks in as the smallest; they grow to heights of 328 feet and less than .03 inches, respectively. - Flowers lend themselves to products as diverse as teas, cleaning products and pills.Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images
Early life jackets used dried sunflower stems for buoyancy. These flowers also lent themselves to the Chernobyl nuclear crisis, sopping up dangerous strontium and caesium. In World War I, German army uniforms were made from stinging nettles. Some of the world's most expensive perfumes contain rose oil, also known as attar. It takes four tons of roses to produce only 2 pounds of attar. Saffron, made from the Saffron crocus flower, ranks as one of the most expensive spices on the planet. Modern manufacturers use coneflowers of the Echinacea genus in over 140 medicinal products. - The Archaefructus sinensis, or "ancient fruit of China," is the oldest known flower in the world. This flower traces its roots back to the time of the dinosaurs. In the scientific community, flowers go by the name "angiosperm," which derives from the ancient Greek words "angos" and "sper," roughly meaning "seed bearing." Egyptian soldiers serving under Pharaoh Thothmes III collected flowers during the 1400s BCE, while English herbal catalogs dating back to 1,000 CE make mention of foxglove and cowslip flowers. In 2006, Indian president Abdul Kalem received the world's biggest flower bouquet. It measured 15 feet high and featured 175,000 flowers.
- Romantic roses dominate the U.S. flower industry.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
In America, the rose is the bestselling flower -- in fact, Americans purchased more than 1.2 billion roses in 1996. In the United Kingdom carnations are the bestselling blossom, according to Workbox Direct floral supply company. U.S. consumers spend an annual amount of $18 billion on fresh-cut flowers; 80 percent of these plants are imported. Colombia and Ecuador both import more than 70 percent of all their flowers to the U.S. On the dark side of the flower industry, the Intentional Labor Organization says that 20 percent of all flower workers in Ecuador are children.
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