Today is Halloween! Everything is scary today but have you ever thought about flowers and plants that are said to be scary? There are plants that kill, sting, poison and look creepy.
When I looked up scary plants on the internet there were many sites listing what they thought were scary plants. Believe it or not, some of them I have grown in my garden and are favorites of mine. I cannot write about every plant I found listed so I am choosing a few. You can look under Halloween scary plants on the internet and find many more scary plants with pictures.
The first one at the top of every list is bleeding tooth fungus, Hydnellum peckii. I have never seen this plant and do not want to. The bleeding tooth fungus looks kind of like a wad of chewing gum whose fruit bleeds a bright red fluid. The bloodlike substance is said to have anticoagulant and antibacterial properties— like penicillin!
One flower that I have seen in botanical gardens is black bat flower, Tacca chantrieri. The nearly pitch black plant has a chilly appearance. The flower seems to have ears and whiskers. The rare plant grows wild in China. The bat-like flowers reach 12 to 20 inches in diameter with whiskers that can grow up to a foot long. Other nicknames for this flower include “cat’s whiskers” and "devil flower.”
Now for one that I grow: Cockscomb, Celosia cristata! There are different celosias but this one is the crested variety. I have never considered it scary but sources do because they say it looks like a fuzzy brain— especially the yellow variety. Because of that the plant would make a perfect treat for zombies. I love it for flower designs.
Another garden favorite is Chinese Lantern Plant, Physalis alkekengi. The flowers look like a delicate paper lantern. When the flower dries and its covering goes away, the berry is encased in a skeletal, cage-like covering. The scary part: In Japan the plant’s seeds are used to help guide the souls of the dead. I have grown Chinese Lanterns and love them for dried flower arrangements. I do not take the covering away.
The next one is a native Ohio plant that I have seen growing wild. It is Actaea alba, or "doll’s eyes." It is also known as white baneberry. The tiny white flowers are one-fourth-inch wide; growing in a dense, rounded cluster. The fruit is white berries that look like the china eyes used in early dolls with a black or dark purple spot in the middle. Doll’s eyes are very toxic— ingesting the berries or stems can lead to cardiac arrest and death.
The best-known insect-eating plant in the world is the Venus flytrap, Dionaea muscipula. This carnivorous plant has jaws— actually the plant’s leaves— that snap shut on insects in less than a second. The leaves have trigger hairs that sense prey and tooth-like cilia that keep the prey from escaping. It is native to North and South Carolina. This is a favorite windowsill plant for children and adults to grow.
The last plant for this article is devil’s claw, Proboscidea parviflora. This plant, native to Arizona, shares its name with an order of elephants. Proboscidea comes from the word proboscis, which means trunk or horn. The seed pods look like spiders or sharp hooks. The pods hook onto the feet of animals, and the animals crush it into the ground where the plant grows in the future.
If you are not scared enough by the ghosts, witches and goblins at your door tonight, try looking up scary plants on the internet.
