Friday the 13th brings images of superstitions, black cats, broken mirrors, and misfortune. What better way to celebrate this ominously unlucky day than by learning about some of the creepiest, spookiest plants straight from your nightmares?
From corpse flowers that smell like rotting corpses, to vampire plants that feed on the blood of their prey, these plants are sure to send a chill up your spine. Keep reading to uncover these haunting botanicals that seem perfect for Friday the 13th.
The Corpse Flower
Native to the tropical rainforests of Sumatra, the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) earns its name from the putrid stench it emits when in bloom. The odor, described like that of rotting flesh, attracts carrion beetles and flies that pollinate the plant.
The source of the repulsive smell comes from the spathe, a modified leaf that forms a hood around the central spadix. As the plant comes into bloom, the spadix starts warming up, releasing the scent of decaying organic matter to fool pollinators into thinking the plant is a dead animal.
Adding to its creepy appearance, the deep maroon spathe looks like a giant skirt covering the tall yellow spadix. The plant can grow over 10 feet tall and 4 feet wide when in full bloom. However, the spectacular but rancid bloom only lasts for 24-48 hours.
So don’t miss your chance to experience this stinky spectacle in person. Public viewings of flowering corpse flowers draw huge crowds at botanical gardens and conservatories. Just be sure to plug your nose!
The Ghost Pipe
With its translucent white stems and flowers, the ghost pipe (Monotropa uniflora) lives up to its supernatural name. This peculiar plant looks like its straight out of a ghost story or horror movie.
Unlike most plants, the ghost pipe lacks chlorophyll and has turned completely white due to a lack of light exposure. Instead of generating its own energy from the sun, it feeds off underground fungi that have formed relationships with nearby trees.
The ghostly plant is found in damp, shaded forest areas across North America. It emerges from the dirt in late summer and starts out looking like a pale white knob bursting from the ground. As it grows, it formsnodding bell-shaped flowers along a waxy stem.
Walking through a dark forest and stumbling upon these eerie white plants would certainly send a chill down your spine. Make sure to look for the ghost pipe on your next hike through the woods. Just don’t get spooked if you see one!
The Dragon’s Blood Tree
With its spiny, crooked branches and oozing red sap, the dragon’s blood tree looks like something straight out of a fantasy novel or alien planet. The foreboding tree gets both its common name and scientific name, Dracaena cinnabari, from its dark red resin.
This dragon’s blood oozes from the trees when cut or damaged, giving it the illusion of bleeding. The thick sap has traditionally been used as dye and supposed medicinal cure-alls.
The dragon’s blood tree is native to the Socotra archipelago off the coast of Yemen. The island’s hot, arid climate and isolation has led to the evolution of many rare and unusual plants. The dragon’s blood tree is arguably the most iconic of Socotra’s plants.
With its umbrella-shaped canopy perched atop a bare trunk, this unusual tree seems like a creepy addition for a Halloween yard display or fantasy landscape. Just beware of its dripping dragon’s blood sap on Friday the 13th!
The Octopus Agave
With its long, twisted tentacle-like leaves, the octopus agave looks like some creepy creature ready to drag you into the depths. This monstrous plant seems perfect for a supervillain’s lair or underwater horror scene.
True to its name, the octopus agave (Agave vilmoriniana) sprouts long, narrow leaves that spiral and twist out from the base like octopus arms. The leaves emerge bluish-green but develop red tips as they mature that resemble the suckers on a giant tentacle.
This agave species is smaller than some others, reaching just 2-3 feet tall and wide. However, the twisting narrow leaves create an otherworldly, menacing look. Tiny plantlets also emerge on the ends of the leaves, making it seem like the octopus is sprouting tiny tentacled clones!
In nature, this agave hails from Mexico but has become popular in drought-tolerant gardens and xeric landscaping. Just make sure to plant it far from pools, ponds, or hot tubs so it doesn’t look like an emerging undersea monster!
The Bat Flower
Taking its common name to a frightful level, the bat flower (Tacca chantrieri) perfectly captures the foreboding essence of these winged mammals. From its ominous dark color to distinct bat-like shape, this is one flower that seems ready to take flight for a night of Halloween mischief.
Native to Southeast Asia, the bat flower grows on the jungle floor with flowers emerging on long stems from the basal leaves. The flowers bloom in an inky black or deep purple color that looks straight out of a vampire movie.
But the flower’s most bat-like feature are the long, wispy tails that hang down beneath each one. These thread-like whiskers can grow over 28 inches long, giving the illusion of a bat in flight. Even the flower’s “ears” perk upright at the top.
Add in the bat flower’s dusky color palette, and it’s a plant seemingly designed just for Friday the 13th. It would make the perfect centerpiece for a spooky supernatural setting. Just keep the lights dim so it really looks like bats are swooping through!
The Voodoo Lily
The unusual and ominous blooms of the voodoo lily seem shrouded in supernatural mystery. From its deep purple color to uncanny shape, this is one flower that lives up to its chilling name.
True to its name, the voodoo lily (Amorphophallus konjac) sprouts a single deep purple flower that looks like a hanging voodoo doll or object of ritual. The plant first emerges as a rolled up green shoot with a spear-like tip. This unfurls into a frilly purple flower shaped like a figure dressed in flowing robes.
Below the flower dangles a wrinkly yellow skirt-like spathe that quivers eerily in any breeze. This adds to the bizarre, animated appearance of the bloom that seems to pulse with a life of its own. A rancid rotten smell also permeates the air around the plant.
Overall, the voodoo lily looks like some strange effigy animated by dark supernatural forces. Coming across its lone flower nodding in the breeze is sure to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!
The Cobra Lily
With its long twisted pitchers and claw-like fangs, the cobra lily perfectly mimics its deadly namesake. This carnivorous plant seems ready to strike from the boggy depths and swallow prey whole.
The cobra lily (Darlingtonia californica) sprouts a cluster of tall, tubular pitchers that twist and loop like rising cobras ready to attack. The swollen hollow pitchers even form elaborate crests and spines on their “hoods” just like the iconic markings on a cobra.
Lining the opening of each pitcher are narrow flap-like fangs. When prey crawls inside seeking nectar, these flap down to trap the victim inside the pitcher’s digestive chamber. Below the opening, translucent spots let you peer into the pitcher and see any captured insects floating inside.
Adding to its creepy factor, the cobra lily emits an alluring sweet fragrance to lure prey closer to their doom. With its graceful predatory pitchers, the cobra lily seems like the perfect centerpiece for Friday the 13th. Just don’t get too close or you may get bit!
The Venus Flytrap
With its jaw-like snapping traps, the Venus flytrap seems like a blood-thirsty botanical monster. This carnivorous plant has struck fear into the hearts of insects and humans alike for centuries.
Native only to a small area of North and South Carolina, the Venus flytrap gets its name from its unique trapping and feeding mechanism. At the end of each short stem are modified leaves fused into two toothy lobes that form a snapping trap.
Trigger hairs line the lobes and snap shut around prey when stimulated twice within 30 seconds. The spiky jaws then clamp down to imprison hapless insects with no hope of escape. The plant slowly digests the victim and reopens its jaws after about a week to await the next meal.
While not actually deadly to humans, getting snapped by one of these mini bear traps would certainly give you a fright. They seem like prime man-eating plants straight from Little Shop of Horrors.
So if you want a truly interactive plant that fights back this Friday the 13th, put a potted Venus flytrap in a place of honor. Just keep your fingers clear of its fang-filled jaws!
The Corpse Plant
Move over Venus flytrap. The corpse plant (Rafflesia arnoldii) takes carnivorous plants to the next stomach-churning level. This bizarre parasitic plant produces flowers that smell like rotting corpses to attract carrion flies.
Corpse plants lack leaves and stems and are stem parasites on certain jungle vines. Their thread-like roots tunnel into the vine to steal water and nutrients. After years of creeping around underground, mature plants finally send up a terrifying flower.
What emerges looks more like an oozing fungal infection or burst carcass than a blossom. The enormous maroon and yellow “petals” can span over 3 feet wide looking like bursting, decaying flesh.
But the smell is even more nauseatingly repulsive. The stench of rotten meat emanates from the flower’s porous, warty center which is slick with dead insect parts. This reek attracts flies and beetles that pollinate the bizarre bloom.
So if you think you can handle the stomach-churning sight and smell, try to seek out a flowering corpse plant this Friday the 13th. Just make sure you plug your nose or the horrific odor is sure to haunt your nightmares!
The Bleeding Tooth Fungus
What would Friday the 13th plant list be without including a fungal horror? The bleeding tooth fungus oozes blood-red latex and looks like it comes straight from a zombie graveyard.
Despite its grisly appearance, the bleeding tooth fungus (Hydnellum peckii) is completely harmless to living creatures like humans or plants. It shoots up clusters of rubbery fungus caps that start out creamy white before maturing to blood-red.
As the name implies, the caps are covered in tooth-like protrusions, especially along the edges. And when young or injured, the fungus leaks a thick scarlet fluid resembling blood. This oozing red latex stains the mushroom and surrounding soil for weeks.
Adding to its gruesome appearance, the underside of each cap looks gnarled and brains-like. The whole fungus appears to be decaying and melting before your eyes.
While this fungus won’t hurt you, its ghastly look is sure to send a shiver down your spine if you come across it in the forest. It seems like the perfect decoration in a Halloween graveyard or zombie landscape.
The Blood-Stained Spider Lily
Looking like its petals are splattered with blood, the aptly named blood-stained spider lily seems ripped from the pages of a horror story. With its long curling petals and bloody red hues, this fall-blooming flower packs a spooky punch.
The blood-stained spider lily (Lycoris radiata) is a bulb plant that lies mostly dormant throughout the year. But in late summer or fall, it awakens to send up tall stems topped with unique flowers.
Each flower has six long, ribbon-like petals that twist and curl outwards in an eerie spiderlike display. The red and white variegated petals appear streaked or splashed with blood, especially near the ends. This gives each flower an uncanny, gruesome appearance.
As if that’s not creepy enough, the leaves and stems only appear after the flowers fade away. This seemingly brings the petrified plants back from the dead.
Native to Asia, these haunting flowers now frequent American gardens too. Just beware their haunting visage on Friday the 13th when it seems they are really dripping pools of blood.
The Intelligent Plant Mimosa Pudica
You may be wondering why a delicate fern-like plant ended up on this list of nightmarish botanicals. But the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) has a creepy secret—this plant can actually move on its own and react to your touch!
Native to South and Central America, the mimosa pudica has feathery leaves that fold up instantly when touched or shaken. After a few minutes, the plant will slowly uncurl and reopen its leaves when danger passes. This rapid plant movement looks eerily like the mimosa is a sentient being.
Scientists think the plant developed this mechanism to scare away herbivores and reduce water loss. But imagine stumbling across a patch of these in the jungle and watching them all simultaneously recoil from your presence!
Beyond its creepy movement, the mimosa pudica has sharp prickles along its stems that deliver a painful sting similar to stinging nettle. Getting attacked by an army of stinging, shrinking plants sounds like a scene from a B-list horror movie!
Even just one potted mimosa specimen is sure to deliver frights on Friday the 13th. Watch guests recoil in terror when they reach out and touch its foliage only for the plant to rapidly withdraw before their eyes!
The Strangler Fig
What would a list of spooky plants be without including a parasitic plant that slowly strangles the life from its host? Enter the strangler fig, which latches onto other trees and gradually suffocates them.
Strangler figs (Ficus aurea) are a type of tropical fig tree that begins life as a vine clinging to the bark of an existing tree. As the fig grows, its twisting stems fuse together and expand into a mesh surrounding the host tree’s trunk.
The strangler fig’s mesh cuts off the flow of water and nutrients to the host while also blocking photosynthesis. As the fig keeps growing, its vine lattice tightens further and further around the tree.
After years locked in this fatal embrace, the host tree dies and rots away, leaving the strangler fig standing in its place. The mature fig does show reminders of its gruesome past, though, as its trunk often forms eerie hollows and cracks reflecting its life-stealing origins.
These parasitic plants exemplify the frightening side of nature and seem ideal additions to your Friday the 13th landscape—that is if you are willing to sacrifice another tree!
The Doll’s Eye Plant
Sporting a single creepy white berry, the aptly named doll’s eyeplant seems like a possessed botanical trinket straight out of a horror film. This bizarre plant has given many hikers a fright after stumbling upon its staring “eye” in the forest understory.
The doll’s eye plant (Actaea pachypoda) sprouts a small white flower in spring that develops into a porcelain berry by late summer. The berry hangs at the end of a bright red stem, looking just like a large creepy eyeball with a red optic nerve dangling below.
Adding to its horror factor, the entire doll’s eye plant is highly poisonous. All its parts contain a toxin that can cause respiratory failure in humans if ingested.
So encountering a patch of these ghostly white “eyes” peeking out from the dark forest floor would be enough to give you a serious scare. Or you may feel like you’re being watched through the woods by possessed dolls or spirits. Either way, the doll’s eye plant seems custom-made for freaking people out on Friday the 13th!
The Naked Man Orchid
Ending our Friday the 13th plant list with a creepy splash, the naked man orchid looks like its name with eerily humanoid flowers. This bizarre orchid’s flowers sprout little figures that look like tiny men complete with faces, arms, and legs.
The naked man orchid (Orchis italica) is a Mediterranean species that forms dense clusters of roots and leaves along the ground. But its flowers grab attention with their uncanny human-like shape.
Two of the petals extend into spindly elbowed “arms” while the lip petal stretches down into two “legs” with feet. The sepals also form a “head” with eyes, nose, and a grinning mouth. The little flower men even appear to be dancing or performing tricks together.
Coming across a field of these spindly orchid figures seems like a scene from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This plant must have spawned from some mad scientist’s lab!
So if you want to give your visitors a true shock this Friday the 13th, add a patch of these racy orchids. Just be prepared for shrieks of horror when people realize the flowers scattered around your garden are dozens of naked little men!
Ready for More Creepy Plants?
Did these horror-inducing plants send a tingle down your spine in anticipation for Friday the 13th? Let us know if you have any other ideas for creepy, kooky, mysterious, or spooky plants that seem right at home on this haunting holiday!
With frightening fungi, carnivorous creepers, parasitic predators, and creepy crawlies, the plant kingdom offers boundless inspiration for botanical horrors. We want to keep building the ultimate list of eerie plants that seem plucked straight from your nightmares.
So share your most spine-chilling plant suggestions in the comments. Together we can continue creating the ultimate guide to ghoulish, ghostly, and terrifying plants for Friday the 13th and all your Halloween haunts!
