9 Intriguing Black Flowers Worth Knowing

Usually, flowers come in bright and vivid colors. They’re meant to delight, brighten moods, and bring color and life to spaces. So, now that ‘black flowers’ actually exist in the floral world – what can they do? Well, count on black blooms and dark-petaled, close-to-black flowers to bring interest and drama and make a truly striking statement in your garden, landscape, or vase.

These magnificent black flowers exude a mysterious charm that’s just utterly fascinating. The “absence of color” gives them an elegant, distinctive, and intriguing vibe. They’re unconventional, slightly strange, yet beautiful nonetheless.

Let’s get to know these nine dark-hued blooms and see how these showstoppers deserve the spotlight.

Black Rose of Halfeti. The only flower that naturally occurs in black, this extremely rare rose only grows in a tiny village in the province of Şanlıurfa in Turkey. This rose starts as a pitch-black bud, getting its inky shade and distinct smell from the properties of the soil in the region and the combination of the climate in Halfeti and the water from the Euphrates river. As the Black Halfeti Rose fully blooms, the petals show a rich wine color.

Black Cat Petunia. Ideal for adding depth and dimension to borders and landscapes, the Black Cat Petunia features extremely dark purple flowers, almost black that the front side of the petals appear velvety black and only the backside of the petals show an obvious purple coloring.

Black Bat Flower (Tacca chantrieri). From the yam family is this unusual plant found naturally in Southeast Asia. A shade lover, the Black Bat plant thrives in damp and dark spots in tropical rainforests. Its bloom isn’t actually true black but dark, dusky maroon to purple that looks black at first glance. The Black Bat flower also has a bizarre shape and texture, which looks like a bat hence the name. It has wing-shaped bracts and seed pods mimicking a bat’s face.

Black Hellebore. This hellebore hybrid draws eyes with its beautiful black flowers. Several varieties with black blooms are available, including the early bloomer ‘Onyx Odyssey’ with deep purple double blooms that appear almost black, the shorter cultivar ‘Black Diamond’ with red undertones, and the large ‘Mardi Gras Plum’ with dark, deep plum flowers and leathery leaves.

Black Calla Lily. The Calla Lily ‘Odessa’ (Zantedeschia) features elegant bell-shaped blooms in almost-black purple. Every single dark bloom is surrounded by arrow-shaped dark green leaves.  

Black Devil Pansy. Several pansies have almost black petals including ‘Pansy Black Moon’ and Halloween II Black Pansy. The Black Devil Pansy, on the other hand, has petals that are true and pure black complemented by a small yellow center. 

Schunke’s Maxillaria Orchid. Found in forests in Brazil, this small-sized orchid has close-to-black flowers that are actually very dark purple-red.

Queen of the Night Tulip. With deep purplish maroon flowers, this tulip is the darkest on the market. Its reddish-purple hue is almost black and is simply stunning and dramatic. This distinctive flower sure makes an exquisite cut flower.

Black Pearl Asiatic Lily. This showy human-bred lily won’t disappoint. It requires little maintenance, is easy to grow, and reveals dark black-red yet pearly petals with bright orange anthers.