Misleading claim with footage of Fox Tail Lily as ‘Mahameru’ blooming in the Himalayas once in 400 years.

Popularly known flower Fox Tail Lily is widely being circulated as the Mahameru flower found in the Himalayas. 

The Himalayas are home to many natural beauties. According to some research, several rare medicinal plants and flowers can only be found in the Himalayas. A video of a flower blooming is presently trending on social media. Many of you have probably seen a video claiming that a flower only blooms once every 400 years in the Himalayas.

A beautiful video of the small yellow flowers blooming one by one in the shape of a stupa is being circulated with the caption “This is the “pagoda flower” or “Mahameru”, a unique auspicious flower in Tibet. The pagoda flowers in the Himalayas bloom every 400 years. Our generation is fortunate to see the pagoda blossom. Please share it for others to see. Good luck for the rest of your life!”

However, Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the video to be False.

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This video has gone viral on social media.

Fact Check- 

Many people have confirmed that there is no flower named Mahameru in the world. Mahameru means a Sri Yantra of two dimensional shapes. Meru, the five-peaked mountain of Hindu Jain Buddhist cosmology, gets its name from this form. There is no such flower as Mahameru in the world.

Now let’s investigate the flower given in the picture. 

The reverse image search on Google with the frames of the video brought us to a tweet from Tired Earth, an international environmental organisation, with the identical video and the description “Foxtail Lily blooming beautifully.”

We found that this is a Foxtail Lily flower known by its scientific name Eremurus. It is a genus of Eremurus in the Asphodelaceae family. Also known as foxtail lilies or desert candles. They are native to temperate Asia from Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine) and Turkey to China. The life span of the plant is about one year. The cone-shaped, upward-growing flower has more than 100 buds. They are fully hatched in about two weeks. The tuber at the base of the plant can be used to produce the next plant. It can be understood from authoritative botanical study websites that the flower lasts for two weeks. There are over 40 varieties of foxtail lilies in many colors, shapes and scents. 

Google image

We contacted Dr. M. Sabu , a Botany Professor in Kerala, for more information and confirmation. He informed us that “such propaganda was noticed.” It’s a plant called Foxtail Lily. It is usually found in foreign countries, particularly in European regions. The claim that this plant blooms just once every 400 years is a complete hoax.There is another plant called century plant which is claimed to bloom once in 100 years . Even that has a lifespan of about 30 years.”

The viral video is a time-lapse video of the flower blooming. Similar videos can be found on the website shutterstock. 

You can read more information on the Fox Tail Lily below; There are more than 40 varieties of this flower around the world.

botanic.cam.ac.uk | dutchgrown | en.wikipedia

Meanwhile, the flower known as the pagoda flower does exist. The pagoda flower is a flowering plant species in the genus Clerodendrum and family Lamiaceae. This flower is native to tropical Asia and blooms not only once every 400 years.

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be Misleading. Popularly known flower Fox Tail Lily is widely being circulated as the Mahameru flower found in the Himalayas.