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List of fictional plants

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This list of fictional plants describes invented plants that appear in works of fiction.

In fiction

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In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth

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Further information: Plants in Middle-earth
"Elanor" redirects here. For other uses, see Elanor (given name).
  • Aeglos: A plant similar to a gorse, named for the Elvish 'snow-thorn'[4]
  • Athelas: A healing plant with long leaves (also known as Kingsfoil or asëa aranion)[4][5][6]
  • Elanor: A small star-shaped yellow flower from Tol Eressëa and Lothlórien[4]
  • Mallorn: A huge tree with green-and-silver leaves turning golden in autumn and remaining so till spring,[4] upon which the Elves of Lothlórien housed[7]
  • Nimloth: The White Tree of Númenor, a seedling of Celeborn, a seedling of Galathilion, created in the image of Telperion[T 1][T 2][4]
  • Niphredil: A small white flower from Doriath and Lothlórien[4]
  • Pipe-weed: "A strain of the herb nicotiana" (tobacco); varieties mentioned include Longbottom Leaf, Old Toby, Southern Star (grown in the Shire) and Southlinch, from Bree[8][9]
  • Oiolairë: An evergreen fragrant tree highly esteemed by the Númenóreans[4][10]
  • Simbelmynë: A white flower that grew in Gondolin and Rohan (also known as Evermind and Alfirin)[4][11]
  • Two Trees of Valinor: Magic trees that illuminated the Blessed Realm in ancient times[4]

In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series

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  • Bobutuber: A slug-like plant whose essence is useful in treating pimples.
  • Chinese Chomping Cabbage: A flesh-eating plant featured in Hogwarts Legacy.
  • Devil's Snare: A vine that prefers to grow in damp and dark areas and tangles its victims to death. Professor Sprout uses the Devil's Snare, among other objects, to protect the Philosopher's Stone.
  • Dirigible plum: A tree with fruits that grow upside-down.
  • Dittany: A herb with powerful medicinal properties.
  • Fanged Geranium
  • Gillyweed: A seaweed-like plant that grants temporary fish-like characteristics to those who ingest it.
  • Gurdyroot: A plant that resembles a green onion. It is the basis for a foul-tasting purple infusion brewed by the Lovegoods to fend off Gulping Plimpies.[12][13] Considered not very original by gardening expert Charles Elliott, depending on a funny name for effect.[14]
  • Honking Daffodil
    A Mandrake prop on display at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter.
  • Leaping toadstool
  • Mandrake: Tubers that look like babies when young. Their screams can kill when fully grown. A potion made from mature mandrakes can reverse petrification.
  • Mimbulus mimbletonia: A cactus-like plant.
  • Snargaluff: A flesh-eating tree.
  • Venoumous tentacula
  • The Whomping Willow: A tree with mobile, club-like branches.

In Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere Series

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On the planet Roshar (The Stormlight Archive)
  • Firemoss: A red-brown moss that, when activated by rubbing between the thumb and forefinger, releases wisps of smoke that create feelings of euphoria when inhaled and is used as a recreational drug.[15] Firemoss is highly addictive, limiting its medicinal use, though it is sometimes used to reduce cranial swelling[16] and offer pain relief.[17]
  • Knobweed: Like most of the plants found on Rohsar, knobweed has adapted to survive the planet's harsh storms. The reed-like stalk anchors itself directly to stone and the frond found at the top of the stalk has the ability to contract and retreat into the stalk during storms for protection. Knobweed reproduces by releasing fluffy pappuses that carry seeds into the air. The milky white sap found inside knobweed stems is a natural and highly valuable antiseptic used in the field and by established apothecaries.[16]
  • Prickletac: Prickletac plants are actually colonies of much smaller living buds. As each generation of buds dies it converts to a hard, stony material which the next generation builds upon.[17] Prickletac's reproductive system is based on this oddity – when a 'limb' grows too large it breaks off and falls to the ground, scattering living buds. Also known as Twisted Spine.[18]
  • Rockbuds: Rockbud is both a general term for several shelled plants on Roshar, including Lavis Polyps, Vinebuds, and Prickletac Shrubs, and the proper name for a specific plant. The true Rockbud plant is a shelled plant containing lengthy tendrils that reach out to lap up water (and occasionally animal blood).[16] The size of fully grown rockbuds depends largely on climate. In colder climates they grow no larger than a human fist, while rockbuds in warm climates can grow to the size of a barrel.[17] Rockbuds are harvested for consumption, limited medicinal uses, and paper making.
  • Shalebark: A class of stony, fanlike plants often used for decoration and landscaping.[16]
On the planet Nalthis (Warbreaker)
  • Tears of Edgli: Vibrantly colored flowers that grow only in the temperate T'Telir climate. Highly valuable both economically and magically.[19]
On the planet First of the Sun (Sixth of the Dusk);
  • Unnamed Telepathic Trees: Many flora and fauna on this planet communicate with a form of natural telepathy. Certain unnamed plants living on the islands that make up the Pantheon send false thoughts of wounded or frightened animals to attract predators, which often fight and leave victims dead near enough to the tree to provide nutrition. These plants are not directly carnivorous.[20]
On the planet Taldain (White Sand Series)
  • Dorim vines: Dorim vines live under the sand that covers most of Taldain's Dayside continent, reaching down to the water table where they fill themselves with water as a defensive mechanism against predators – the hard shells of many of the continents animals is dissolved by contact with water. Pouring water onto sand draws nearby vines out of the ground.[21]

In Dungeons & Dragons

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The role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons has a number of, according to Charles Elliott "not-very-ingenious", imaginary plant species,[14] as well as "a taxonomy of fungal horrors", which Ben Woodard considers eerie not only for their poisonous nature, but because many have the ability to move.[22]

  • Basidirond: A giant multi-stemmed fungus creature[23]
  • Hangman tree: A tree that will attempt to strangle anyone who ventures under it[24]
  • Kelpie: A shape-shifting mass of animate seaweed that can imitate a woman or other creatures, and drowns its victims[24]
  • Myconid: A "race of [man-sized] sentient fungus creatures", "some of which pack a mean punch", and which have the "ability to spray poisons that can disable their foes".[25]
  • Oaken defender: An enormous disk-shaped plant that lives in dryad groves and assists in their defense[26]
  • Obliviax: A black moss that steals memories from intelligent creatures.[24] The obliviax appeared on Geek.com's list of "The most underrated monsters of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons", because ingesting the moss can transfer the memories, an "interesting" concept which lends itself to "Christopher Nolan-esque adventures that will be both universally applauded and terribly confusing at the same time.".[27]
  • Phantom fungus:[22] A dangerous subterranean plant that grapples victims with tentacles[28]
  • Shambling mound:[22] An atrocious plant-like creature, also called a shambler[24]
  • Shrieker: Ambulatory fungus,[22] which "can be used as cheap alarm systems for Underdark societies, but they possess no combat abilities of their own. The only thing a shrieker can do is shriek". Scott Baird of Screen Rant ranked the Shrieker among the weakest monsters in the game.[25]
  • Tendriculos: An enormous, savage, sentient plant resembling a huge, tangled shrubbery[28]
  • Treant: Sentient, humanoid trees who protect forests from antagonists[24]
  • Vegepygmy: A "mold man", a former human transformed by russet mold[24]
  • Wood woad: A creature resembling big, burly, bestial men made entirely of wood and bark bearing, but without foliage[29]
  • Yellow musk creeper:[22] A creeping plant that drains the intelligence of its victims, killing them or turning them into "yellow musk zombies" under the plant's control[24]

In Monty Python's Flying Circus

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The following plants appear in the David Attenborough sketch of the last Monty Python episode.

  • Angolan sauntering tree (Amazellus robin ray).
  • Gambian sidling bush.
  • Puking Tree of Mozambique.
  • The Turkish little rude plant.
  • Walking tree of Dahomey (Quercus nicholas parsonus).

In Avatar

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In the Avatar franchise, plants on Pandora have evolved according to the characteristics of their environment, which has a thicker atmosphere than Earth. Pandoran plants can communicate via a phenomenon called 'signal transduction'.[30][31]

In video games

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Video games frequently feature fictional plants as items that can be collected by the player, or occasionally appear as non-player characters.

  • The Monster Hunter series has multiple fictional flowers and plants that can be gathered by the player character, including nulberries, might seeds, flowferns, and dragonstrike nuts.
  • The titular plants from the Plants vs. Zombies series, which are used to defeat zombie enemies.
  • In The Legend of Zelda series, plants play a significant role. In many games, bomb flowers allow Link to explode rocks and obstacles.[32] In Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, Link can collect plants that grant him buffs when cooked.[33] The Great Deku Tree, the guardian of the Korok Forest, is a recurring character in the franchise.[34][35][36]
  • Broc Flower: A medicinal plant appearing in the Fallout series.
  • Various Pokémon species are Grass-type or based on plants. Prominent Grass-type Pokémon include the starter Pokémon Bulbasaur and the evolutionary family Sprigatito, Floragato, and Meowscarada.
  • Plantera: A massive pink flower from the game Terraria, resembling a venus flytrap.
  • Candypop Bud: A flower found in the video games Pikmin and Pikmin 2.
  • Chuck the Plant: A plant found in several of LucasArts' games.
  • Elowan: A race of plant-like creatures in Starflight computer game.[37]
  • Fire Flower: A flower from the Mario series that transforms Mario into Fire Mario.
  • Flowah: A sunflower-like monster from My Singing Monsters.
  • Flowey: A sentient flower who is one of the main antagonists of Undertale.
  • Genesis trees: Trees located in the world of Legaia from the video game Legend of Legaia. They can keep a large area free of the Mist.
  • Laganaphyllis simnovorii: A carnivorous cow-like plant found in The Sims series of games, commonly known as the Cowplant.
  • Lunar Tears, from the Nier series.
  • Nirnroot: A rare, alchemical plant from The Elder Scrolls series.
  • Piranha Plants: Plants with mouths from the Mario series, often depicted as sentient. An individual Piranha Plant appears as a playable DLC character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.[38]
  • Potbelly: A flytrap-like monster from My Singing Monsters.
  • Wumpa fruits: Collectible fruits from Crash Bandicoot.
  • Supox utricularia: A race of kind, sentient plant creatures from the Star Control series.
  • Xander Root: A medicinal plant appearing in the Fallout series.
  • Sylvari: A race of sapient plant people in the MMO Guild Wars 2, available as a playable race.

In comics

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In mythology

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Hoaxes

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See also

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Further reading

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  • Elliott, Charles (2011). "Imaginary Plants". Why Every Man Needs a Tractor. London: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 978-0711232396.
  • Miller, T.S. (2014). "Plants, Monstrous". In Weinstock, Jeffrey (ed.). The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 470–475.

Notes

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  1. ^ The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion", ch. 3 "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"
  2. ^ The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion", ch. 8 "Of the Darkening of Valinor"

References

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  1. ^ "Mark of the Vampire (1935) - Overview - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.
  2. ^ "Synopsis: "By Any Means Necessary"". www.midwinter.com.
  3. ^ Cynthia Crossen (9 December 2005). "Think Your Family Is Strange? Spend Time With the Starkadders". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Judd, Walter S.; Judd, Graham A. (2017). Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium. Oxford University Press. pp. 73–346. ISBN 978-0-19-027631-7.
  5. ^ The Fellowship of the Ring, "Flight to the Ford"
  6. ^ The Return of the King, "The Houses of Healing", Index IV
  7. ^ The Fellowship of the Ring, "Lothlórien"
  8. ^ The Lord of the Rings, "Prologue"
  9. ^ The Return of the King, "Homeward Bound"
  10. ^ Unfinished Tales, "A Description of the Island of Númenor"
  11. ^ The Two Towers, "The King of the Golden Hall"
  12. ^ Rowling, J. K. (2005). "Lord Voldemort's Request". Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0-7475-8108-8.
  13. ^ Rowling, J. K. (2007). "The Tale of the Three Brothers". Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-545-01022-1.
  14. ^ a b Elliott, Charles (2011). Why Every Man Needs a Tractor. London: Frances Lincoln. p. ?. ISBN 978-0711232396.
  15. ^ Sanderson, Brandon (2017-11-14). Oathbringer (First ed.). New York. ISBN 978-0-7653-2637-9. OCLC 969863614.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. ^ a b c d Sanderson, Brandon (2010-08-31). The Way of Kings. New York. ISBN 978-0-7653-2635-5. OCLC 471819495.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ^ a b c Sanderson, Brandon. (2014). Words of Radiance (First ed.). New York. ISBN 978-0-7653-2636-2. OCLC 867184929.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. ^ "The Way of Kings - Rockbuds by Inkthinker on DeviantArt". www.deviantart.com. October 2010. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  19. ^ Sanderson, Brandon. (2009). Warbreaker (1st ed.). New York: Tor. ISBN 978-0-7653-2030-8. OCLC 276334993.
  20. ^ Sanderson, Brandon (2014-10-17). Sixth of the dusk : a Cosmere novella. [American Fork, UT]. ISBN 978-1-938570-07-0. OCLC 894996388.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  21. ^ Sanderson, Brandon (2016). White Sand Volume 1. Hoskin, Rik,, Gopez, Julius M.,, Campbell, Sophie, 1979-. Mt. Laurel, NJ. ISBN 978-1-60690-885-3. OCLC 953421413.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  22. ^ a b c d e Woodard, Ben (2012). Slime Dynamics. Winchester, Washington: Zero Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-78099-248-8.
  23. ^ Gary Gygax (August 1983). Monster Manual II. TSR, Inc. p. 15. ISBN 0-88038-031-4.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g Doug Stewart, ed. (June 1993). Monstrous Manual. TSR, Inc. ISBN 1-5607-6619-0.
  25. ^ a b Baird, Scott (May 20, 2018). "Dungeons & Dragons: 10 Most Powerful (And 10 Weakest) Monsters, Ranked". Screen Rant. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
  26. ^ Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel (July 2006). Monster Manual IV. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3920-6.
  27. ^ The Retroist (2016-06-27). "The most underrated monsters of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons". Geek.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-02. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  28. ^ a b Skip Williams, Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook (July 2003). Monster Manual. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-2893-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Andrew Finch, Gwendolyn Kestrel, Chris Perkins (September 2004). Monster Manual III. Wizards of the Coast. p. 196. ISBN 0-7869-3430-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ "Avatar's New Twist on Plants".
  31. ^ "Don't Miss These Amazing Disney Details in Pandora – the World of Avatar". 4 May 2017.
  32. ^ Cardaro, Brett (May 1, 2023). "Tears of the Kingdom Brings Back a Classic (& Quirky) Zelda Weapon". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
  33. ^ Tapsell, Chris (March 2, 2018). "Zelda: Breath of the Wild cooking explained - ingredients list, bonus effects, and how to cook with the cooking pot". Euro Gamer. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
  34. ^ Fontes, Renan (February 22, 2022). "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a Beautiful Tragedy About Growing Up". Goomba Stomp Magazine. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
  35. ^ Ramos, Jeff (March 15, 2017). "How to get the Master Sword in Zelda: Breath of the Wild". Polygon. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
  36. ^ Yu, Johnny (May 12, 2023). "How to cure the Deku Tree's stomach in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom". Polygon. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
  37. ^ "Starflight Command". Archived from the original on 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2007-04-07. [self-published source]
  38. ^ Hall, Charlie (November 1, 2018). "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pre-orders include a playable Piranha Plant fighter". Polygon. Retrieved December 20, 2024.
  39. ^ Moore, Alan (w), Gibbons, Dave (a). "For the Man Who Has Everything", Superman Annual #11 (1985). DC Comics.
  40. ^ Darowski, Joseph J. (November 2014). The Ages of the Avengers: Essays on the Earth's Mightiest Heroes in Changing Times. McFarland & Company. p. 27. ISBN 9780786474585.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
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