The 7 Rarest Flowers in The World.

  When I had the opportunity to check out an orchid display while visiting Philadelphia a couple weeks ago, I took it.  When I visit the Big Island, I always stop at this great orchid place outside of Hilo before you get to the Volcano National Park because the flowers are so beautiful.

Just the other day, I looked at all the pictures I'd taken and wondered what are the most expensive flowers in the world.

We never seem them when we pop into the local grocery store to pick up a few flowers to brighten our dining rooms but they exist.

1. Gloriosa also known as flame lilies, fire lilies, or glory lilies cost $6 to $10 per stem.  These are said to be as beautiful as they are poisonous.

2. 17th Century Semper Agustus  sold for $10,000 (5,700) guilders per bulb. Yes this was the cost of this particular tulip back in the 17th century just before the tulip buying bubble burst.  The Semper Agustus has garnet flames streaking across the white petals.  Just to give you a reference point, a grand house could be purchased for that amount or feed a family for half a life time.

3. Saffron Crocus go for $1200 to $1500 per pound. These produce the deep orange  stamen used in cooking.  It takes 80,000 flowers to produce 500 grams of saffron which is about a pound.

4. Rothchild's Orchid also known as the Gold of Kinabalu orchid.  It was discovered in 1987 but was almost ravaged by orchid smugglers.  It is kept alive through the use of cultured seedlings and can only be grown in the Kinabalu National Park in Malaysia.  It is elusive and takes many years before it produces a single blossom.  Each plant goes for $5,000.

5. Shenzhen Nongke orchid was not created by nature.  This particular orchid was created in a lab by the Shenzhen Nongke group.  The flower took 8 years to develop before it was sold at auction for $202,000.

6.  Juliet Rose, a beautiful apricot hued rose, bred by David Austin cost him just about $5 million to breed.  He debuted it at the 2006 Chelsea Flower Show.  Fortunately, you can purchase the flower for much less.

7. Kadupul Flower, from Sri Lanka, cannot be purchased because the plant infrequently produces flowers which bloom in the dark and are dead by dawn.  Imagine a plant blooming maybe once a year and whose blossom lasts only a few hours.