Toyota Develops a Couple New Flowers

We’re used to Toyota developing all sorts of bizarre and wonderful inventions; most of which come on wheels. Sure, sometimes those conceptual ideas are pretty bizarre and some are downright strange, but this takes the cake.

As outlined in a recent review, there’s been some that accuse the Prius’ production process of being slightly less than environmentally friendly. While the argument is far from concrete, Toyota’s taking the matter to heart. And their bio-engineering department. Yeah, who knew they even had one?!

The result is this: a pair of new flowers; one a derivative of the cherry sage and the other a gardenia variant. Produced for the Toyota City, Japan plant, both flowers were designed with the purpose of maximizing their ability to absorb nitrogen oxide and create water vapour. The idea is that the flower will essentially cleanse the air around the factory.

It may sound crazy, but it’s just the latest in a long line of weird and strange ideas Toyota’s implemented to reduce the Prius’ environmental impact. First, there are the more obvious ones: roof mounted solar panels to reduce the factory’s power consumption. Then, there’s paint that absorbs noxious gases. Lighting comes from reflective tubes that essentially reflect sunlight into the building. And finally? Another bio-engineering feat: grass that grows so slowly it only needs to be mowed once a year.