They say spending time on social media rots your brain, but today, just because it was making the rounds on Twitter, I discovered a really neat flower native to both Japan, where I live now, and the States, where I was born. See, who needs to leave the house?
Meet diphylleia grayi, sometimes called the skeleton flower, a humble white woodland blossom that turns transparent when it rains!
Diphylleia grayi like cool, shady woodland areas and put out flowers in spring or summer. They grow in parts of Japan and China, as well as in the Appalachians in the United States.
Since most of us only go hiking when the weather is nice enough, we would see some clusters of small white blossoms among some large umbrella-like leaves. Pretty enough, I suppose, but in the plain way of wildflowers.
But if you should happen to be caught in a downpour, these little petals would reveal a secret, as they did for Japanese Twitter user @Miki_2_.
https://twitter.com/Miki__2_/status/612968943335018497Although I can see why they get called skeleton flowers, that seems a rather ghoulish name for something so delicate and pretty. Wouldn’t something like “glass flower” be more appropriate?
This effect doesn’t damage the flower, though. When they dry out, the petals return to white!
Despite the flower being native to Japan, judging by the Twitter responses, I wasn’t the only one to be encountering it for the first time.
“It’s like something from a fairytale.”
“That’s so pretty!”
“It becomes transparent when wet? Just like underwear.”
That last one is my favorite. This is the internet, after all.
Images: @Miki_2_, Minkara
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