7 Plants So Weird, You’ll Think They’re from Another Planet

When we think of plants, we imagine soft petals, green leaves, and fresh scents. But not all plants play by the rules. Some look like they belong on an alien planet, with bizarre shapes, odd textures, and behaviors that defy what we expect from the plant kingdom. Here are seven of the weirdest plants on Earth — all real, all spectacularly strange.

1. Bat Flower (Tacca chantrieri)

This tropical beauty looks like it flew in from a vampire movie. With its bat-shaped dark purple petals and long, trailing whiskers that can grow up to 28 inches, the bat flower is native to Southeast Asia and thrives in humid, shaded areas.

It can bloom all year round, and its eerie appearance makes it a favorite among collectors of rare plants. Despite its spooky look, it's a harmless plant that prefers to stay mysterious in the shadows.

2. Cockscomb (Celosia)

Cockscomb gets its name from its resemblance to a rooster’s comb. But more than that, its brain-like texture and vivid colors (red, yellow, pink, orange) make it look like a psychedelic coral reef growing on land.

Native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia, this plant has been cultivated for centuries as both an ornamental and edible species. Its odd shape comes from tightly clustered flower spikes that twist and fold like folds of a brain.

3. Jabuticaba Tree

Imagine a tree that looks like it's growing grapes right out of its trunk — that’s the Jabuticaba. Native to Brazil, this tree produces sweet, dark purple fruit that grows directly on its bark, creating an alien-like appearance.

The fruits are edible and often turned into jelly, juice, or wine. The tree flowers multiple times a year, which means it can be constantly covered in white blossoms and dark berries at the same time.

4. Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana)

This unassuming green plant becomes the star of the show once every 12 years, when entire hillsides in India turn bluish-purple with its bloom.

Native to the Western Ghats, the Neelakurinji flower is a symbol of time and rarity. Its mass blooming event draws thousands of tourists and only lasts a few weeks before disappearing again for over a decade.

5. Welwitschia Mirabilis

Found only in the Namib Desert, this ancient plant may be one of the strangest survivors on the planet. It has only two leaves — but they grow continuously, splitting and curling over time, making the plant look like a tangled mess of ribbons.

Welwitschia can live for over 1,000 years, thriving in one of the driest places on Earth. It survives by collecting fog from the air with its leaves, showing just how adaptive (and weird) plants can be.

6. Doll’s Eye (White Baneberry)

Doll’s Eye is both beautiful and creepy. This North American plant grows white berries with black dots that look exactly like eyeballs — hence the name.

But don’t be fooled by its eerie charm. The berries are highly toxic to humans and can cause cardiac arrest if ingested. Its unsettling look is a warning in itself.

7. Hydnora africana

Hydnora africana doesn’t look like a plant at all. Buried underground for most of its life, it only surfaces to bloom a fleshy, mouth-like flower that emits the smell of rotting meat.

Native to southern Africa, this parasitic plant feeds off the roots of other plants. Its terrible smell attracts beetles for pollination. It’s rare, creepy, and surprisingly successful.

Final Thought

While flowers and trees often symbolize beauty and peace, these strange plants remind us that nature also has a wild, mysterious side. From rotting smells to alien growth patterns, Earth is full of botanical oddities that make us question what’s truly "normal."

So the next time you walk past a plain-looking plant, remember: somewhere out there, a flower is blooming once every 12 years, and a root is pretending to be meat.