Spooky plants

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The plant kingdom has it share of creepy and sinister specimens as part of nature's grand scheme for diversity. Some of these strange-looking plants seem to have grown out from some horror flicks. Imagine encountering a bat plant, eyeball plant, a dracula flower, a skunk cabbage, a strangler fig, to name a few. These bizarre plants are not only weird-looking, stinky, monstrous, but can kill (other plants) that is.

You will never walk alone again in the garden after seeing these spooky plants.

The eyeball plant (Spilanthes oleracea) also known as the peek-a-boo plant, is all eyes. The cylindrical shape flowers with yellow sides and reddish-brown top resemble eyeballs. The leaves and flowers have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial benefits.

How to grow an eyeball plant

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The White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) is also known as the Doll's eyes plant. The berries are highly poisonous and when eaten can lead to cardiac arrest and death. Can you imagine taking a walk in the garden at night with these creepy eyes peering out of the darkness?

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The Strangler fig tree is native to Florida Keys and the West Indies and is a parasitic plant. It lodges its seeds in the bark of its host and puts out air roots and lives off nutrients from the host and air. Eventually the roots reach the ground and develop, sapping the host tree and strangling it to death. Watch out for these stiffling hugs.

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Hailing from the rainforests of West Africa and East Asia, the Bat Plant will add gothic charm to your garden.The interesting looking flower of the Bat Plant look like a bat's face with large ears, long whisker-like filaments and a purple cape resembling a bat in flight.

Photo Credit: Solon Morse

These bizarre plant lives up to its name - Dead man's fingers. But could easily could be mistaken for some animals' poop. It is a fungus that grows on dead logs and look like individual black fingers reaching out from the ground to grab your legs. It is hard not to let your imagination run wild after seeing this spooky plant.

Read more about Dead Man's Fingers

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The corpse flower is named after the putrid odor that it releases that smells like rotting flesh. The tall conical central stalk generates heat that propels oils called putecines and cadavarines into the air.The stinky blossom turns off humans, but attracts pollinators, like bees, flies and carrion beetles that normally feed on dead animals.

Photo Credit: Steve Beckendorf

Dracula Vampira is not from Transylvania but from the cloud forests of Southeast Ecuador. The small orchid is gorgeously creepy looking like a monkey or baboon and named after a famed actor who played the blood-sucking vampire Dracula in the movies.

Photo Credit: Steve Beckendorf

These small delightful Dracula Simia orchid flowers will stop anyone on their tracks. It is a species of orchid that also grows in the cloud forests of Columbia and Ecuador. This flower also resembles the faces of monkeys with eyes and cupped lips..

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The skunk cabbage lurking in the wet woodlands could easily startle an unexpected hiker. This unusual plant produces its own heat to keep its weird flower safe and warm in freezing temperatures. It grow in Eastern North America.

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The Devil's tongue is supposed to look like a devil's tongue although I have never seen one. In spite of its smell, the Devil's Tongue is grown in India, China, Japan and Korea for its large starchy corms to create flour and jelly. It is also used to create candies, believe it or not.

Read more on the Devil's Tongue

The ghost plant is aptly named as it is ghostly white with bowed flower heads and is parasitic. It needs no chlorophyll and therefore is not dependent on sunlight to grow, and gets its energy from photosynthetic plants.

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The snake-like stubby arms of this unusual plant is reminscent of the snake-haired gorgon Medusa of Greek mythology. Although no one turns to stone, the sight of this creepy cactus is definitely spine-tingling.

More on the Medusa cacti

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The slug-like rhizomes of this ant fern look real creepy but are homes for ants. Beauty is indeed in the eyes of the beholder.

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The huge cavernous mouth of the rafflesia looks like it is about to swallow anything that crosses its path. Fortunately, the likelihood of that happening is slim because this bizarre flower is hard to locate in the jungles of Southeast Asia. It is a parasite and has no leaves, stems or roots aside for the visible flower and the rest of the plant exists only as filaments living off its unfortunate host (the Testrastigma vine). The putrid odor of the rafflesia attracts flies which pollinates this endangered oddity.

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This hideous fungus does not resemble any tooth I have seen, but the oozing red gel will remind you to go see your dentist soon. It is also known as Strawberries and Cream, the Red Juice tooth, the Devil's tooth and Bleeding Hydnellum. The bloody-looking substance is known to prevent blood clot and has antibacterial properties.

Photo Credit: Theo Groen

This tentacled reddish monstrosity erupting from an egg looks like something out of a horror movie. It is none other than the Octopus Stinkhorn indigenous to Tasmania and Australia. This multi-armed oddity of nature smells putrid and attracts pollinators like flies and carrion beetles. The eggs taste like radish. In a life and death situation would you dare take a bite out of this?

You will get non-stop blooms from this unusual but gorgeous bat-faced Cuphea plant. The flowers resemble bat faces with scarlet petals and little purple mouse ears. The stems are woody, arches gracefully and unfazed by summer's heat.