How many times have you stood wondering at the beauty of nature and everything it withholds? The more you understand its functionalities, the more you would stand in awe of it. While mighty mountains and stunning waterfalls are enough to take your breath away, we found something that will make you fall in love with the Creator all over again. When Reddit user Octopus Prime posted the picture of a flower that has petals which looks like birds, he didn't know the internet would be obsessed over it. Days after posting the photos, people from across countries are keen to know about this green flower bird or regal flower bird's unique feature and how it received its uniqueness.

As the post went viral, a fellow Reddit user SolitaryBee, who is a scientist studying flower evolution explained why the plant looks like a bird. The plant is known as the green flower bird or regal flower bird and is scientifically known as Crotalaria cunninghamii.

Check Out the Pic:

While hummingbirds are native to the Americas, the plant is a member of the legume family and is a perennial shrub native to inland northern Australia. They generally thrive on sandy dunes. Its relation to Australia is quite ironic as hummingbirds do not live there. Hummingbirds are the smallest of birds and weigh around 2.0 gram.

The Flowers:

The scientist in his post writes, "The fact that the flower looks like a bird to humans cannot have evolved adaptively because as a signal receiver, there is nothing humans could have done to increase the fitness of individuals that evolved this signal (to look like a bird). Unless indigenous Australians in arid Australia bred or traded the plant because it looks like a bird."

While hummingbirds are native to the Americas, the plant is a member of the legume family and is a perennial shrub native to inland northern Australia. They generally thrive on sandy dunes. Its relation to Australia is quite ironic as hummingbirds do not live there. Hummingbirds are the smallest of birds and weigh around 2.0 gram.

The Flowers:

The scientist in his post writes, "The fact that the flower looks like a bird to humans cannot have evolved adaptively because as a signal receiver, there is nothing humans could have done to increase the fitness of individuals that evolved this signal (to look like a bird). Unless indigenous Australians in arid Australia bred or traded the plant because it looks like a bird."

Indigenous Australians knew the medicinal value of the flower. Aboriginal people used it to treat eye infections. The shape of this flower is due to a common anatomical trait of legumes. Many have Papilionaceous flowers which have five petals and a large upper petal known as a banner. According to Darwin, the unusual shape would have developed under the selective pressure of bee pollinators. Also, it's unlikely that non-humans would mistake the flower for birds. What we see is an illusion like when we look sta Trompe-l'oil paintings. Our eyes make us think of what closely resembles a bird.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 30, 2019 12:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).