History Main / Transflormation

Manga/FoolNight: Is entirely about people turning into plants. In an earth that has lost it's sun, running low on oxygen, mankind has developed transfloration technology to turn people into plants that survive without sun.

* ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'': In one episode, Xander falls victim to this when he drinks a potion that he mistakenly believes will make him more attractive.

* ''Film/Troll2'': The goblins of Nilbog town do this to people so that they can eat them, by means of getting them to eat their evil food. Arnold gets turned into a plant thing by the goblins, complete with his own planter. Of course, he mostly just looks like a human with a couple of vines and pieces of bark stuck on, because the movie had NoBudget.

* ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' has monsters that can [[ForcedTransformation turn]] the player into a ''mobile eggplant.''

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': Over the course of a few hundred years and three games, Harold slowly goes from being an oddball [[MutagenicGoo FEV product]] to a PlantPerson with a [[ConsultingMisterPuppet bonsai tree on his head named Bob]] growing on his head to a fully-fledged [[WiseTree talking tree]] completely rooted in place by a now much larger Bob. He's not really happy with the last bit when your character first encounters him in this form in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', but depending on how you play it, he can come to terms with being involuntarily made a FisherKing slowly restoring plant life to the wasteland.

* ''ComicBook/DonaldDuck'': In one story, Donald tricks Fethry into thinking that, if you swallow cherry pits, you will sprout branches and eventually turn into a tree yourself. He sneaks a few twings into his ears and hair during a conversation to make Fethry think that he's starting to transform, runs off, and dresses a sapling in his sailor suit to make his cousin think he fully transformed. Fethry buys it and, having swallowed a few pits himself, heads off to the botanical garden to find a nice spot to root himself and patiently waits out his transformation. Eventually the trick is revealed, [[EveryoneLaughsEnding everyone has a laugh as the story closes]]... and in the very last panel, [[RealAfterAll a fresh twig pops out of Donald's ear]].

* In ''Anime/FlipFlappers'', [[spoiler:the mother]] of the protagonist wipes out most of the members in [[NebulousEvilOrganization Asclepius]] by turning them into clovers.

* Issue #105 of the early Creator/MarvelComics horror title ''ComicBook/MarvelTales'' has the story "The Man Who Vanished", in which a businessman goes on vacation to a cabin in the Catskills, but finds it's been taken over by a creepy old hunchbacked man and that the last man who tried to evict him mysteriously disappeared. He chases the old man away and discovers a bizarre human-shaped tree growing on the cabin's porch. The man tries to uproot it but discovers the plant's sap resembles blood... and that there's a strange plant like growth on his arm. The growth eventually spreads over his whole body and changes him into a ghastly plant creature just like the tree on the porch, which he realizes to his horror was once the man who disappeared earlier. His wooden feet than root him to the ground next to the other man-tree, and the old man returns to care for his garden. The last narration box then switches to the POV of one of the plant-beings, [[SchmuckBait begging the reader to come drop by the cabin and get closer to the plants so that they can have company]].

* Downplayed in ''Literature/ABadCaseOfStripes'' when Camilla sprouts branches at one point.

* In ''Literature/TheCourtOfTheAir'', an ancient and evil civilization escaped a terrible disaster by moving underground, and coped with the lack of food by transforming the enslaved majority of its vassal-states' population into plants that lived off the caverns' thermal energy. The elite classes lived off their human "crops", which were helpless to resist or even protest.
* In ''Literature/DeltoraQuest'', drinking water from a dreaming spring with a "wicked heart" will turn the drinker into a tree.
* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'': The seventh circle of Hell contains a twisted forest where each tree contains the soul of a suicide. Borrowing from ''The Aeneid'', Creator/{{Dante|Alighieri}} has no idea the trees are people until he breaks off a branch; then he sees black blood pour out while the voice trapped within the tree finally can let out a horrid scream.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In the episode "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE29EternalYouth Eternal Youth]]", Poison Ivy turns rich people into trees. Unlike most versions, the artistic-license chemistry version she's using takes several days, at least at the dosages she initially uses.

** Magi in the Bjornaer MysteryCult gain a Heartbeast form that they can assume at will. Some gain a Heart''plant'' instead, which is accepted but considered rather odd even by wizardly standards.

* The ''Franchise/DragonAge'' lore features this as the origin of [[PlantPerson Sylvans]], though it could be seen as more of an InvertedTrope; when spirits and/or demons cross over from the Fade, they typically seek out something ([[DemonicPossession or someone]]) to posses, as their Fade forms are vulnerable and somewhat uncomfortable in the more grounded mortal realm. Unfortunately, if a spirit/demon exits the Fade in, say, an isolated forest, their options are limited, and indeed, many choose to posses trees themselves. This results in them getting trapped in said tree, which becomes their bodies, and they end up immobile until someone either releases them, or they manage to gain enough control over their bodies to begin moving around. Sadly, most sylvans you meet are driven insane, either from the trauma of crossing from the Fade or from being [[AndIMustScream trapped in a tree for gods know how long]], but you do meet one with a penchant for rhymes who refers to himself as a "[[JustForPun Poet-tree]]."

* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': A princess stranded in the Faewilds gets turned into a tree by a pair of mischievous fairies, forcing Spectra to challenge them to a game of wits to make them turn her back.

See also CoolAndUnusualPunishment, TransformationHorror, CurseThatCures, and {{Metamorphosis}}. Compare its sister tropes TakenForGranite (an involuntary stint as statuary) and {{Animorphism}} (VoluntaryShapeshifting to take animal form).

* ''ComicBook/DistrictX'' has a man whose mutant power is slowly transforming into a tree whenever he sleeps. His family prevents this by waking him up and pruning any roots and branches, but they get separated, and he becomes a full-blown tree in the sewers.
* Issue #105 of the early Creator/MarvelComics horror title ''Marvel Tales'' has the story "The Man Who Vanished", in which a businessman goes on vacation to a cabin in the Catskills, but finds it's been taken over by a creepy old hunchbacked man and that the last man who tried to evict him mysteriously disappeared. He chases the old man away and discovers a bizarre human-shaped tree growing on the cabin's porch. The man tries to uproot it but discovers the plant's sap resembles blood... and that there's a strange plant like growth on his arm. The growth eventually spreads over his whole body and changes him into a ghastly plant creature just like the tree on the porch, which he realizes to his horror was once the man who disappeared earlier. His wooden feet than root him to the ground next to the other man-tree, and the old man returns to care for his garden. The last narration box then switches to the POV of one of the plant-beings, [[SchmuckBait begging the reader to come drop by the cabin and get closer to the plants so that they can have company]].

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' story arc ''ComicBook/TheGirlWithTheXRayMind'', after being infected with the "Plant Scourge", Supergirl can unwillingly transform any living being near her into a vegetable.

* The parasitic fungus ''O. sinensis'' grows inside moth larvae and eventually emerge from the caterpillar. The infected caterpillar bodies is sought after by Chinese herbalists as a remedy called "dōng chóng xià cǎo" ("winter worm, summer grass").

** Persephone turned the nymph Minthe into the mint plant as revenge for trying to sleep with her husband.

* ''Anime/BlueSubmarineNo6'' had two human background characters that were turned into trees ([[AndIMustScream with their eyes still moving]]).
* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheGreenGiantLegend'' have Doraemon and friends traveling to the Green Planet, a world populated by PlantAliens, and at one point after being captured by hostile tree-men Doraemon uses his gadget mask to turn the whole gang into tree-people to sneak through tree-men guards. They do revert back to their human forms after a few minutes though. There's also the discovery of a conspiracy within the Green Planet where they're attempting to drop a plant-based nuke on ''earth'', triggering an ApocalypseHow with earth's entire population converted to plants, and the climax revolves around Doraemon and gang trying to prevent that from happening.

* ''Manga/GeGeGeNoKitaro (2018)'': In one episode, this happens to Nezumi-Otoko, Kiyomi, and Kubota during the initial confrontation with the bamboo people, who were also humans before entering the bamboo thicket.

* ''Marvel Tales''(an early Marvel horror title) has #105's story, "The Man Who Vanished", in which a businessman goes on vacation to a cabin in the Catskills, but finds it's been taken over by a creepy old hunchbacked man and that the last man who tried to evict him mysteriously disappeared. He chases the old man away and discovers a bizarre human-shaped tree growing on the cabin's porch. The man tries to uproot it but discovers the plant's sap resembles blood...and that there's a strange plant like growth on his arm. The growth eventually spreads over his whole body and changes him into a ghastly plant creature just like the tree on the porch, which he realizes to his horror was once the man who disappeared earlier. His wooden feet than root him to the ground next to the other man-tree, and the old man returns to care for his garden. The last narration box then switches to the POV of one of the plant-beings, [[SchmuckBait begging the reader to come drop by the cabin and get closer to the plants so they can have company.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': A nymph turns herself into a tree when chased by Phil in reference to the myth of Daphne and Apollo. It's VoluntaryShapeshifting on her part, though: as he comments "they can't keep their hands off me" she indignantly whips him with a branch.

* ''Film/Annihilation2018'': While inside [[EldritchLocation the Shimmer]], the expedition discovers a field full of plants in the shapes of humans. They're not sure whether they used to be humans, or are just [[InvertedTrope plants that grew into that shape]]. While they are near that field, [[spoiler:leaves start to sprout from Josie's arms. She commits suicide by letting herself become one of those plants.]]

* ''Film/TheLittleShopOfHorrors'': Whenever [[ManEatingPlant Audrey II]] eats someone, it sprouts a flower with that person's face afterwards. [[spoiler:After it eats Seymour, he becomes a flower that can exchange words with his love interest]]. This is preserved in the stage musical but left out of the film version of the musical.
* ''Film/TheRookies'': The movie's plot involves a bio-weapon dubbed the "Green Virus", which can cause plants to grow on the skin of humans, and prolonged exposure will turn human beings into trees. The BigBad, leader of an EcoTerrorist syndicate, intends to use the virus to "cleanse the earth" by turning the world's human population into plants, and a major scene of the film involves the virus being unleashed into New York, turning much of the populace into tree-people.

* Downplayed in ''Literature/ABadCaseOfStripes'', where Camilla sprouts branches at one point.
* In ''Literature/TheCourtOfTheAir'', by Creator/StephenHunt, an ancient and evil civilization escaped a terrible disaster by moving underground, and coped with the lack of food by transforming the enslaved majority of its vassal-states' population into plants that lived off the caverns' thermal energy. The elite classes lived off their human "crops", which were helpless to resist or even protest.

* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'': The seventh circle of Hell contains a twisted forest where each tree contains the soul of a suicide. Borrowing from ''The Aeneid'', [[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante]] has no idea the trees are people until he breaks off a branch; then he sees black blood pour out while the voice trapped within the tree finally can let out a horrid scream.
* ''Literature/TheDuelOfSorceryTrilogy'':
** In the third book, Serroi is turned into a tree [[spoiler:as the [[EquivalentExchange price]] of defeating Ser Noris]].
** In the subsequent trilogy, ''[[Literature/TheDancersTrilogy Dancers]]'', [[spoiler: she turns back]].
* This happens to Amberle at the end of ''[[Literature/{{Shannara}} The Elfstones of Shannara]]'': she was chosen to transform into a new Ellcrys, the magic tree that keeps the demons trapped in the Forbidding.
** This also happens to Grianne Ohmsford in a different and more limited way at the end of ''Tanequil'', a later book in the ''Shannara'' series. She becomes one of the people that feeds the eponymous magic tree's roots, which frees her spirit to live in the air around the tree's branches.
** In the ''Magic Kingdom of Landover'' series also by Terry Brooks, Queen Willow is a PlantPerson who periodically transforms into an actual tree, but only temporarily. No points for guessing what kind of tree.
* This turns out to be Michael's fear in the first book of ''Literature/TheForbiddenGame'' trilogy. He believes his fear is silly but after the group almost become plants themselves, the others remark it is just as horrid as everyone else's fears.

* "Green Thoughts", a 1931 novella by John Collier, has an exotic, carnivorous orchid whose blossoms resemble what it ate (flies at first, then a cat, then its owner); it is thought to have been the inspiration for ''Little Shop of Horrors'' above

* At the end of John Bellairs' ''[[Literature/TheHouseWithAClockInItsWalls The Letter, The Witch and the Ring]]'', the villain probably falls victim to a LiteralGenie demon she has summoned, and after wishing to be young and beautiful and to live a thousand years.. gets turned into a willow tree.

* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'':
** Pre-series, Zeus turned his daughter Thalia into a pine tree to save her life. [[spoiler:She gets better, courtesy of the healing powers of the Golden Fleece. The tree remains where it is, but she goes back to being a human.]] On hearing her story, Percy worries about what ''his'' father, Poseidon, might do in this sort of situation. He guesses he would either end up as plankton or as a floating patch of kelp.
** Nico got turned into a dandelion by Persephone due to a "family spat" sometime before "The Sword of Hades" and gets turned into a corn plant by Triptolemus in ''The House of Hades''.

* A short story named "Summer Retreat" was about the Copses, a family of weretrees. They turned into trees to sleep for the winter... after murdering their neighbors and burying them in the yard for fertilizer.

* ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''. The [[EcoTerrorist Callisto Liberation Front]] use a spore-dispersing device designed for {{terraforming}} as an improvised terrorist weapon. It's [[TransformationHorror not a pleasant experience]], though it is played for BlackComedy.
-->'''Newsreader:''' According to eyewitness reports, the toxic gas turned people into...trees? ''(turns off-camera)'' Are you serious with this? Oh shit, that's nutbags!

* ''Series/SwampThing2019'': The pilot episode for the TV series has the title character fuse a bad guy into a tree as punishment for killing one of Dr. Arcane's escaped test subjects.

** One of [[DeathWorld Catachan's]] many terrifying flora is the Spiker, a plant which shoots needle-like stingers at living things to turn them into other Spikers.
** The Seers of Lugganath astral-projected their forms into the garden of [[PlagueMaster Chaos God of Disease, Nurgle]], seeking a cure for a blight ravaging their craftworld. Their punishment for intruding in Nurgle's most sacred sanctum was to be turned into screaming trees. An eternal, miserable decoration on his daily walk.
* In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' the Goddess of Life Magic, Alarielle the Everqueen, is able to cast ''Metamorphosis'', a spell that causes the target's arms to twist into branches and their feet to form roots until they become a tree. In the game, if this spell kills the last model in a unit then the player can replace the model with a wood.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': Over the course of a few hundred years and three games, Harold slowly goes from being an oddball [[MutagenicGoo FEV product]] to a PlantPerson with a [[ConsultingMrPuppet bonsai tree on his head named Bob]] growing on his head to a fully fledged [[WiseTree talking tree]] completely rooted in place by a now much larger Bob. He's not really happy with the last bit when your character first encounters him in that form, but depending on how you play it he can come to terms with being involuntarily made a FisherKing slowly restoring plant life to the wasteland.