Plant News Articles

Sam Lal is convinced the elephant-shaped Amaranth bloom in his back yard in an incarnation of the Hindu god Ganesh. The nearly 4-foot-tall flower grew in June and began to resemble an elephant's head and trunk in August. Lal said that ailments that had plagued him for months disappeared. "This formation came to heal my illness," he said of his relief from pain due to a bone spur near his spine and bulging discs in his neck. "They say God comes in many forms. I figure this has taken the form of a plant to come into my yard to bless me." With winter chills approaching, Lal is covering the flower with a plastic bag at night to protect it from cold. "It's a little upsetting," he says. "It hurts me to know I'll lose it."