These Strange Plants Really Exist
If you thought creepy and strange plants were only the stuff of nightmares and horror films, think again! There are plenty of mysterious plants out there and lucky for us, many of them can be found right here in the Credit River Watershed.
Join us as we explore our most frightening forests and spookiest swamps in search of five unique native plants our staff encountered while collecting data for the Integrated Watershed Monitoring Program (IWMP).
Ghost Pipe
Cast your eyes upon our first ghoulish and unnerving plant, the ghost pipe (Monotropa uniflora). Unlike most plants, ghost pipe leaves do not have chlorophyll, the green pigment that enables plants to convert sunlight into energy. This makes for an eerie-looking plant completely white in appearance. Ghost pipe plants do not get their energy from the sun and instead extract nutrients and energy from neighbouring plants and trees. Thus, the lack of sunlight doesn’t hinder ghost pipes from thriving in the darkest corners of our forests.
Bloodroot
This ominously named plant, bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), gets its name from the red sap that oozes from its roots. Indigenous Peoples in the Great Lakes region used this bright red sap as a natural dye for various textiles. Bloodroot grows in large colonies in undisturbed woodlands throughout Southern Ontario. It has brilliant white flowers, usually with eight petals, that bloom in May. Bloodroot will often bloom before its leaves have even unfolded. Bloodroot’s leaves tightly wrap around its flower stem, resembling the cloak of the infamous Count Dracula.
Round-leaved Sundew
This spine-chilling plant is the round-leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), but do not be fooled by its charming name. These plants are carnivorous, luring and capturing flies and other insects with a sticky dew-like substance on their leaves. Stalk glands near the edge of the leaf slowly curl inwards, trapping prey and digesting them. Round-leaved sundews commonly grow in acidic bogs. Plants cannot grow in bogs due to the lack of necessary nutrients. As a result, sundews have developed the ability to consume insects to supplement their nutrient intake.
White Baneberry Doll Eye’s
Have you ever had the feeling, when walking in the woods, that something is watching you? It could be this nightmarish plant, the white baneberry or commonly called doll’s eye (Actaea pachypoda).
These plants have a unique appearance with their bright white fruit, each with a prominent black dot, resembling little beady eyes. To enhance the creepiness factor, these ‘eyes’ emerge from a blood-red flower stem. White baneberry grows throughout Southern Ontario, preferring dry deciduous forests. It’s important to exercise caution when dealing with white baneberry, as all the plant’s parts are toxic.
Wild Cucumber
Finishing our frightening plant journey, is the wild cucumber (Echinocystis lobata). Wild cucumbers grow along streambeds, swamps, moist thickets and roadsides. Growing up to nine meters long, this vining plant can completely engulf any tree or shrub it attaches to.
Despite being called a cucumber, these are not edible. The fruits of the wild cucumber grow about five centimeters long and are covered in menacing spikes.
Wild cucumbers are related to classic orange Jack-o’-lantern pumpkins. Although pumpkin varieties have been cultivated for thousands of years in North America, only the wild cucumber and bur-cucumber (Sicyos anugulatus) are native to the Credit River Watershed.
Learn more about our Integrated Watershed Monitoring Program, a long-term monitoring program that reports on the health of ecosystems in the Credit River Watershed.
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By Thomas Leharne, Crew Member, Watershed Monitoring