The alleged mystical udumbara flowers

Rare Udumbara Flowers Blossom in Korea

Mystical flower found in buddha sculpture This is the earliest Udumbara found in Korea in July 1997 on a golden brass Tathagata sculpture in a Buddhist temple in Kyungki-Do.
References: www.buddhistchannel.tv
baike.baidu.com (Chinese)   Google translation   toutiao.com (Chinese)  

Image source and Reference: www.youtube.com   alt   alt   www.youtube.com (Chinese)  

Rare Buddhist flower found in China

Rare Buddhist flower found under nun's washing machine.

Also, Udumbara Flower found in Vietnam  

A cluster of Udumbara flowers blossoming in Indonesia

A cluster of Udumbara flowers blossoming on a leaf and on a rope surrounding an orchid tree on the third floor of the home of a Falun Gong practitioner in Medan, North Sumatra.

Image source and Reference: www.clearwisdom.net   www.clearwisdom.net  

The alleged udumbara flowers have been seen blossoming on Buddha statues

The alleged udumbara flowers were seen blossoming on Buddha statues in a thousand year-old temple, Sumi Zen Temple in Korea, 2005 

Image source: Multiple sources  
References: theepochtimes.com   beforeitsnews.com  

Most believe these alleged mystical udumbara flowers are actually green lacewing eggs.

Green lacewing eggs

These are documented pictures of green lacewing eggs in academic publications.

Green lacewing eggs

Green lacewing eggs
Green lacewing eggs are rather unique and easy to recognize. The egg is a green to white capsule less than 1/32 inch suspended by a long thread (1/4-inch long) typically found on the underside of vegetable plant leaves, laid singly and in clusters.

Image source: ext100.wsu.edu

lacewing Egg on a leaf (Chrysoperla carnea)

Egg on a leaf - green lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea)

Image source: www.forestryimages.org

Eggs on apple tree. - Chrysoperla sp. eggs

Eggs on apple tree. - Chrysoperla sp. eggs

Image source: bugguide.net

Additional image: commons.wikimedia.org

Lacewing eggs

Lacewing eggs

Image sources: orange.ifas.ufl.edu   ceriverside.ucanr.edu   www.pinterest.com  

These pictures of authentic lacewing eggs were recirculated and mis-identified as the mystical udumbara flowers in many websites.

Alleged Udumbara Flower versus Green lacewing eggs

The following photos show lacewing eggs at different stage of hatching.

The egg of Chrysopa before and after hatching

The egg of Chrysopa before hatching (left) and after hatching (right)

Lacewing eggs hatching

Lacewing eggs hatching

Image source: baike.baidu.com   m.shenchuang.com  

Lacewing eggs (After hatching)

Lacewing eggs (After hatching)

Image source: toutiao.com

These are the commonly used pictures to differentiate alleged mystical flowers from Lacewing eggs. I don't think they are convincing.

Rare Udumbara Flowers Blossom in Korea

Rare Udumbara Flowers Blossom in Korea

Image/Video source: www.youtube.com   Multiple sources  

Udumbara Flower ?

Udumbara Flower ?
They are likely the stalked eggs of a lacewing (Family Chrysopidae). (www.flickr.com)

Image source: www.flickr.com   Multiple sources  

 

Mysterious Flower Blooms Once Every 3,000 Years

Mysterious Flower Blooms

Image/Video source: www.youtube.com  

Udumbara Flowers Blossom

Udumbara Flowers Blossom (優曇婆羅花)

Image/Video source: www.youtube.com
Another Video: www.youtube.com

Real Udumbara Tree (Ficus), commonly known as Fig Tree

Ficus racemosa (syn. Ficus glomerata) is a species of plant in the family Moraceae. Popularly known as the Cluster Fig Tree, Indian Fig Tree or Goolar (Gular) Fig, this is native to Australia, Malaysia, South-East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. It is unusual in that its figs grow on or close to the tree trunk, termed cauliflory. In India the tree and its fruit are called gular in the north and atti in the south. The fruits are a favourite staple of the common Indian macaque. It serves as a food plant for the caterpillars of the butterfly the Two-brand Crow (Euploea sylvester) of northern Australia. (Wikipedia)

In Buddhism, uḍumbara refers to the tree, flower and fruit of the Ficus racemosa (Ficus glomerata).
The Bodhi Tree (Sanskrit: बोधि) was a large and very old sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa) located in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, under which Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher later known as Buddha, is said to have attained enlightenment. (Wikipedia: Bodhi Tree)

Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs.
A fig "fruit" is derived from a specially adapted type of inflorescence (an arrangement of multiple flowers). In this case, it is an involuted, nearly closed receptacle with many small flowers arranged on the inner surface. Thus the actual flowers of the fig are unseen unless the fig is cut open. In Chinese the fig is called wú huā guǒ (Chinese: 無花果), "fruit without flower". In Bengali, where the common fig is called dumur, it is referenced in a proverb: tumi jeno dumurer phool hoe gele ("You have become [invisible like] the dumur flower"). (Wikipedia: Ficus)

This is probably the origin of the alleged mystical udumbara flowers. Since the flowers are hidden and not seen, it is safe to claim that they blossom every 3000 years.

Udumbara tree ((Ficus glomerata)

Udumbara tree ((Ficus glomerata)

Lion-tailed macaque feeding on fig fruits

Lion-tailed macaque feeding on on fig fruits

Image source: commons.wikimedia.org

Udumbara fruits

Udumbara fruits

Image source: www.flickr.com   baike.baidu.com  

The third eastern gopura, with strangler fig

White Fig or Strangler Fig (Ficus virens), enclosing the eastern entrance to The third eastern gopura.
East side of the third eastern gopura, Temple of Ta Som at Angkor in Cambodia.

Image source: commons.wikimedia.org  
Reference: Wikipedia Ta Som  

The Mahabodhi Tree at the Sri Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya.

   

Mahabodhi tree   Mahabodhi tree
Mahabodhi tree (Sacred Fig) next to the Mahabodhi Temple, the spot where Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, attained enlightenment.

The Mahabodhi Tree at the Sri Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya.

   

Left: 1810 picture of a small temple beneath the Bodhi tree, Bodh Gaya.
Right: The Mahabodhi tree in Bodhgaya today

The bodhi tree next to the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, the spot where Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, attained enlightenment, is a fig tree.

Fig tree roots overgrowing a sandstone Buddha statue

Fig tree roots overgrowing a sandstone Buddha statue, near Wat Maha That in Ayutthaya province, Thailand

Image source: commons.wikimedia.org  
References: Wikipedia Ficus (Fig trees)   Ayutthaya Kingdom  

Ficus stuhlmannii wrapped around Bridelia micrantha

Ficus stuhlmannii wrapped around Bridelia micrantha

Image source: commons.wikimedia.org  
Reference: Wikipedia Ficus stuhlmannii  

The fig wasp’s life cycle is typified in the caprifig (Ficus carica sylvestris)

The fig wasp’s life cycle is typified in the caprifig (Ficus carica sylvestris)

Sex Life Of Figs

Sex Life Of Figs: Coevolution Of A Tree & Minute Wasp

The Alleged Narilatha Trees, Flowers and Fruits.

Narilatha Tree with One Flower (Fruit)

Narilatha Tree with One Woman-shaped Flower (Fruit)

Narilatha Tree with Two Flowers (Fruits)

Narilatha Tree with Two Woman-shaped Flowers (Fruits)

Narilatha Tree with Multiple Flowers (Fruits)

Narilatha Tree with Multiple Woman-shaped Flowers (Fruits)
This is apparently a fake, a composite image of above two plctures.

Narilatha Tree with Multiple Flowers (Fruits)

Narilatha Tree with Multiple Woman-shaped Flowers (Fruits)
This is also a fake image, The woman-shaped fruits do not appear to attach to the tree.

COMMENTS:
*These "woman flowers/fruits" do not look real and the pictures appear to be photoshopped. Strong arguments have already been made in several websites against the authenticity of these images.
*The images above are the only set of photos known to exist and recirculate around the Internet. If they were real, we would expect to see much more of them.
*If the sighting of these trees is real and since such an event happens only every 20 years, the place would have been swamped by the tourists and the reporters and we would have heard the news in the main-stream media.
*Indeed, there is actual basis in mythological Hindu/Buddhist texts for the concept of women trees. It is called "Nariphon" in Wikipedia and will be described below.

Dried Nareepol Fruits (Makkaliphon)

Human shaped (male and female) dried fruit sold to tourists in Thailand.
There is a type of tuber or seed-pod found in Laos that is dried, carved into human shapes and sold to tourists, often in male-female pairs. Some of these are used as talismans in Thailand. Both versions of the talisman may be known as Makkaliphon ("fruit of the Makkali tree"), sometimes spelled Makareepol or Makareephon. (www.sacredsiam.com)

The Mythological Nariphon Tree (Naripon)

The Nariphon (Thai: นารีผล), also known as Makkaliphon (Thai: มักกะลีผล, from Pali makkaliphala) is a tree in Buddhist mythology which bears fruit in the shape of young female creatures. The maidens grow attached by their head from the tree branches. This tree grows at the Himaphan, a mythical forest where the female fruits are enjoyed by the Gandharvas who cut the fruits and take them away. (Gandharva is a name used for distinct heavenly beings in Hinduism and Buddhism.)
The Nariphon is also mentioned in the Vessantara Jataka in which Indra placed these trees around the grove where the Bodhisattva Vessantara meditated.
(Wikipedia)

Myths and folklore:
According to Buddhist mythology, the God Indra created a pavilion (Sala) as an abode for Vessantara, his wife, and two children to live. His wife went into the forest to collect fruits: she was, however, in danger of being attacked by Hermits or Yogis who lived in the forest. Although they had acquired special powers from their meditation, they had not conquered lust (mattered the Girl).
Therefore, Indra created twelve of these special Nariphon trees. The trees would bear fruit whenever she went out to collect food and distract the men. The fruits were all in the image of Indra's beautiful wife. The men took the fruits to their place of abode and after making love to them would sleep for four months and lose their powers.
According to Thai folklore, since Vessantara and his family have died, the trees bear fruit daily. The special forest, trees and sala will disappear when the Buddha's teachings have become lost (predicted to be five thousand years after his death). When the fruits appear on the trees they will last for seven days, following which they will wither and die if they are not picked. In the heavenly realms males and females are eternally youthful: since there is no suffering, there is no ageing. They have same internal organs as humans, but no bones. These maidens also have magic powers and possess spirits which can sing and dance.
(Wikipedia)

Thai drawing of Naripon

Thai drawing (lacquerwork painting) of Naripon tree at Phra Pathom Chedi (Phra Pathommachedi), a stupa in Thailand

Isan Mural Painting at Wat Sanuan Wari

Isan Mural Painting at Wat Sanuan Wari.
Scene from Sinsai epic. Sinsai comes upon a groove of nariphon trees, surrounded by withiyathon.
(Wat Sanuan Wari Phatthanaram is located in Ban Phai District, Khon Kaen Province, northeastern Thailand.)

Talking Trees

Talking trees are a form of sapient trees in mythologies and stories.
According to Greek mythology, all the trees in the Dodona (northwestern Greece, Epirus) grove (the forest beside the sanctuary of Zeus) became endowed with the gift of prophecy, and the oaks not only spoke and delivered oracles while in a living state, when built into the ship Argo the wood spoke and warned of approaching calamities.
The rustling of the leaves on an Oak tree was regarded as the voice of Zeus.

In the book Shahnameh (Book of kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020), Alexander the Great visited a talking tree.

The Indian Tree of the Sun and the Moon: Told the future. Two parts of the tree trunk spoke depending on the time of day; in the daytime the tree spoke as a male and at night it spoke as a female. Marco Polo is said to have visited this tree.
(Wikipedia)

Eskandar (Alexander the Great) contemplates the Talking Tree

Eskandar (Alexander the Great) contemplates the Talking Tree
Towards the end of his travels, Eskandar, or Alexander the Great, came to a town at the edge of the world. The local curiosity was a tree with two trunks of talking heads; the male trunk spoke by day and the female at night. Intrigued, Eskandar visited the tree and heard a voice prophesying his death. He is shown here standing before the tree in bewilderment, his finger to his lips. The tree’s mystical qualities are emphasized by the assortment of human and animal heads. The absence of text lends the image an unusual solemnity.

View related image: Iskandar (Alexander the Great) at the Talking Tree  
Reference: Smithsonian Institution: ISKANDAR AT THE TALKING TREE

The Speaking Tree

The Speaking Tree. Deccani or Mughal; early 17th century. Islamische Museum, Berlin
The legend about the Speaking Tree which bore human fruit and was to be found in mythical lands or on an island by the name of Waq Waq.

View similar image: The Speaking Tree   Source: www.amazon.in

Buddha-Shaped Pears

Baby Buddha-Shaped Pears

Baby Buddha-Shaped Pears

Image source: Multiple sources  

Buddha-Shaped Pears (Baby-Shaped Pears)

Buddha-Shaped Pears (Baby-Shaped Pears)

Image source and Reference: Multiple sources  

People were skeptical when farmer Hao Xianzhang announced his plan to take a page out of a classic novel and grow pears shaped like babies, but he’s had the last laugh as his venture has become a resounding success. “People called me crazy. They said I was whimsical and it was impossible to grow baby-shaped fruits. They told me to stop wasting my time and money,” said Hao, who has sold nearly all the 18,000 pears he has cultivated for a hefty 50 yuan ($7) a piece.

Buddha Pear

Buddha Pear

Baby pears

Baby pears

Image source: Multiple sources  

Chinese farmer Gao Xianzhang looks at two baby-shaped pears growing in plastic moulds in a pear tree at his farm in Lianghexia village, Hebei Province. Hao uses the moulds to shape the pears and sells them for about 50 yuan apiece.

Moulded pear shaped into Buddhas

Moulded pear shaped into Buddhas

Moulded pear shaped into Buddhas

Moulded pear shaped into Buddhas

Chinese farmer Gao Xianzhang manufactured the goods by fitting moulds of Buddhas around his pears while they grew. They do look like Buddha. However, Since the chinese Government hates religious superstition, the pears are mainly sold as Baby Pears or Lucky Baby Dolls (吉祥娃娃).

Fruit Moulds

Fruit Moulds

Pears artificially-shaped with moulds.

Pears artificially-shaped with moulds.