Houseplants with Most Weird and Unusual Leaves
1. Butterfly Begonia
Botanical Name: Begonia amphioxus
What’s Unique in this Plant: This rare tropical plant offers butterfly wing-like shiny green foliage with rippled margins and crimson-red spots on the leaf surface.
How to Grow This: It prefers well-draining rich soil and bright indirect light.
2. Jellyfish Air Plant
Botanical Name: Tillandsia
What’s Unique in this Plant: You can make air plants look like jellyfish by hanging them upside down in sea urchins’ shells.
How to Grow This: This low-maintenance plant grows without any soil.
3. Butterfly Wing Plant
Botanical Name: Christia obcordata
What’s Unique in this Plant: The triangular-shaped green leaves resemble a fluttering butterfly with burgundy patterns.
How to Grow This: It prefers warm indoor conditions.
4. Jewel Orchid
Botanical Name: Macodes petola
What’s Unique in this Plant: The unusual green foliage has gold venation that penetrates the leaf; it truly looks like a lightning beat in action.
How to Grow This: It performs well in high humidity and temperature.
5. Hardy Tapioca
Botanical Name: Manihot grahamii
What’s Unique in this Plant: The plant’s foliage looks a lot like Schefflera but with a twist as it fans out, giving it a unique look.
How to Grow This: Avoid overwatering the plant and do not expose it to the harsh afternoon sun for long hours.
6. Heart Leaf Fern
Botanical Name: Hemionitis arifolia
What’s Unique in this Plant: As the name suggests, the leaves of this fern look like the shape of a heart that’s been stretched a little!
How to Grow This: Give it a lot of humidity and indirect light for best growth.
7. Leopard Plant
Botanical Name: Farfugium japonicum
What’s Unique in this Plant: The large and round leaves of this plant are curved downwards, giving it an unusual look. They also have beautiful speckles!
How to Grow This: Exposing the plant to direct morning sunlight will do wonders for its growth.
8. Striped Begonia
Botanical Name: Begonia listada
What’s Unique in this Plant: The plant’s leaves have beautiful stripes of green-cream color, which gives it a jewel-like look!
How to Grow This: Do not expose the plant to direct sunlight. Keep it on a pebble tray with water.
9. Seersucker Plant
Botanical Name: Geogenanthus poeppigii
What’s Unique in this Plant: It is one of the best plants to grow if you like weird foliage specimens. Its leaves have an undulating or puckered surface.
How to Grow This: Expose it to bright but indirect light. Grow it in a hanging basket for the best display!
10. Wine Cup
Botanical Name: Crassula Umbella ‘Wine Cup’
What’s Unique in this Plant: This distinct-looking succulent has unbranched stems and round bright green leaves with raised coiled edges that look like a wine cup!
How to Grow: This easy-to-grow plant dislikes overwatering.
11. Trachyandra
Botanical Name: Trachyandra
What’s Unique in this Plant: The fleshy, small, shrub-like spiral leaves are springy and often hairy.
How to Grow: Use well-draining soil and avoid overwatering.
12. Cooperi Haworthia
Botanical Name: Haworthia cooperi
What’s Unique in this Plant: The plumped, transparent, fleshy green leaves look like a group of bubbles.
How to Grow: It grows well in 4-5 hours of daily bright morning sunlight. Keep it at the south or west-facing window.
13. Starfish Cactus
14. Corkscrew Rush
Botanical Name: Juncus effusus ‘Spiralis’
What’s Unique in this Plant: The interesting or weird feature of this plant is the coiled, spiral shape sprawling in different directions.
How to Grow This: Grow this easy-care houseplant on a sunny window and keep the soil evenly moist all the time.
15. Venus Flytrap
Botanical Name: Dionaea muscipula
What’s Unique in this Plant: This insect-eating carnivorous plant has bristly leaves that fold into two hinged lobes with thorny edges. The nectar tempts insects into the trap.
How to Grow This: It prefers warm places but tolerates cold temperatures that are not less than 40 F (5 C). Also, avoid keeping plants under direct sunlight.
16. Crinkle Leaf Plant
Botanical Name: Adromischus cristatus
What’s Unique in this Plant: The triangle-shaped fleshy leaves are covered in hairs and have wavy, crinkled edges.
How to Grow This: Grow this plant in full sun to partial shade.
17. Barbillion Echeveria
Botanical Name: Echeveria gibbiflora ‘Barbillion’
What’s Unique in this Plant: It changes color and shape throughout the year. The leaves are densely carunculated.
How to Grow This: Grow it in part sun and never allow this easy-to-grow plant to sit in water.
18. Chinese Jade
Botanical Name: Sinocrassula yunnanensis f. cristata
What’s Unique in this Plant: This weird crested form of Sinocrassula yunnanensis shows off a distinct, fan-shaped shape.
How to Grow This: Overwatering can kill the plant, so keep the plant on the dry side.
19. Pangolin
Botanical Name: Crassula ‘Pangolin’
What’s Unique in this Plant: This strange-looking succulent got its name because of the leaves that resemble distinct animal ‘pangolin’ that eats termites, ants and stay covered in robust, overlapping scales.
How to Grow This: This easy-to-grow succulent dislikes excess watering, so do not allow it to sit in water.
20. Marimo Moss Ball
Botanical Name: Aegagropila linnaei
What’s Unique in this Plant: It is not an actual moss but a rare, velvet-like, spherical, non-invasive algae, with a bizarre yet unique shape. It is one of the Houseplants with Most Weird and Unusual Leaves!
How to Grow This: Use tap or RO water, add a bit of ocean salt if brown spots develop.
21. Spiralis Cactus
Botanical Name: Cereus forbesii ‘Spiralis’
What’s Unique in this Plant: The trunkless cactus has columnar blue-green spiral stems branched at the base in an arrangement like candelabra.
How to Grow This: It does well in light shade in the young phase and after that requires bright light year-round.
22. Alocasia Stingray
Botanical Name: Alocasia macrorrhiza ‘Stingray’
What’s Unique in this Plant: The weird thing about its leaves is the tail paired with the wings that resemble stingrays.
How to Grow This: Learn in detail about alocasia stingray care indoors here.
23. Parachute Plant
Botanical Name: Ceropegia Sandersonii
What’s Unique in this Plant: The twining stems carry weird-looking light green perforated leaves patterned in dots.
How to Grow This: Grow this succulent using gritty compost in clay pots with drainage holes.
24. Baby’s Necklace
Botanical Name: Crassula rupestris
What’s Unique in this Plant: The round gray-green leaves with red edges stacked on each other resemble a beaded necklace.
How to Grow This: Use gritty, well-draining soil and water deeply when soil becomes dry.
25. Ant Plant
Botanical Name: Dischidia pectinoides
What’s Unique in this Plant: What makes this plant stand out from the other trailing varieties is its swollen pocket foliage. They are hollow from the inside and are termed bullate leaves.
How to Grow This: Avoid growing this plant in direct sunlight. Avoid overwatering.
26. Hurricane Cactus
Botanical Name: Lepismium cruciforme
What’s Unique in this Plant: The fleshy, long, segmented green stems have small white clumps of hairs without any spines. It turns solid pink to maroon in full sun.
How to Grow This: Avoid growing this plant in direct sunlight as the afternoon sun can burn the foliage.
27. Vietnam Ferox
Botanical Name: Begonia melanobullata
What’s Unique in this Plant: The interesting feature of this begonia is its leaves which are a weird mix of raised black (melano) cones (bullae) that look-like teeth. The leaf edges are wavy and hairy.
How to Grow This: Grow this plant in full to partial shade.
28. Philodendron Fun Bun
Botanical Name: Thaumatophyllum spruceanum
