History Main / MisplacedVegetation

This can come up frequently in Fantasy works set in pseudo-Medieval Europe: it's actually anachronistic for them to have New World crops like tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, maize-corn, etc. For that matter, ''rubber'' shouldn't exist in such worlds (rubber trees have been exported around the world, but they're native to South America). Different Fantasy series handle this different ways, with some just embracing the anachronism.

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[[quoteright:300:[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ihadanaccidentplus.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:♪ Sooooo why is there a conifer under the sea? ♫]]

* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}} in the Congo'' had rubber trees, native to South America, growing wild in Africa. Could possibly be [[FanWank justified post-hoc]] if they're not truly wild, but simply feral. There are commercial rubber plantations in Africa. Also counts as EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, as the author infamously didn't do any research for the rest of this volume.
* Roman legionaries are seen PeelingPotatoes as part of their chores in Comicbook/{{Asterix}}, some 1700 years before their discovery by the western world. Justified by RuleOfFunny, as AnachronismStew is nearly the entire point.

* The daily comic strip ''Crock'' follows a French Foreign Legion unit in North Africa. It routinely features cacti, which only occur naturally in New World deserts (except for the mistletoe cactus, which looks nothing like the stereotypical cactus). May be a case of RealityIsUnrealistic, since several species of cactus from the new world have become naturalized through the Mediterranean basin, with most having been imported more than 100 years ago for use either as crops or ornamentals.

* [[WesternAnimation/MiscellaneousDisneyShorts An earlier animated work]] called ''WesternAnimation/GoliathII'' featured acacia trees growing in India.
* Another Disney case, ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea'' features a massive tropical coral reef beneath ''friggin polar ice sheet''.[[note]]While coral reefs aren't vegetation per se (they are mostly animals), they would still count as they feature as the dominant underwater terrain.[[/note]] Actual polar marine ecosystems can sometimes appear quite lush, but definitely not ''tropical coral reefs with colorful fish''. That's a pinch from the movie's [[HollywoodAtlas big geography mess-up]]. Wait... complete with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridacna ice-hating giant clams]].

* In ''Film/JurassicPark'', Casuarina trees (found only in southeast Asia, Australia and India) coexist with Coast Redwood trees (found only in certain parts of California) on the same Costa Rican island.
* A particularly egregious example showing CaliforniaDoubling in ''Film/BenAndArthur'' with a shot of the palm trees at the "Vermont" airport. There are also abundant subtropical flora in the garden where Ben and Arthur have their "New England" wedding.

* {{Justified|Trope}} and {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Franchise/JurassicPark'', where the incongruous flora is mentioned as being potentially damaging to the megafauna, but was added to the park anyway because it's pretty. There are other examples pointed out by Ellie Sattler, who first identifies an extinct plant by the leaves shortly after arriving on the island. She then points out, as one of the signs that the whole endeavor is negligent and careless, that some of the decorative plants in the visitor's center are toxic to humans. She then diagnoses the digestive problems of a stegosaurus by noting that there are toxic berries growing in the same place it would scoop up gizzard stones.[[note]]The sick dinosaur was in the film but it was replaced with a triceratops and its illness is never explained due to time constraints.[[/note]]
* ''The Science of Literature/{{Discworld}} II: The Globe'' plays with potatoes. Rincewind is horrified that Elizabethan England doesn't have the humble spud.
* In-universe example in Creator/TamoraPierce's ''[[Literature/CircleOfMagic Daja's Book]]'' -- the characters need an illusion to cover up a magical artifact they've accidentally created in the middle of nowhere, so Niko makes a tree. Plant-mage Briar comments that it's a nice illusion, but that you'd never find a cork oak this far north. So Niko changes it to a pine.
* ''Toldi'', a heroic poem that served as the artistic debut of Hungarian poet János Arany, comes close to making this mistake, when the titular outcast nobleman is reunited with his loyal servant. The servant mentions maize in an offhand sentence. The plot takes place centuries before the discovery of America so there was not way he would know what maize is.

* Lampshaded in-universe in ''Literature/DreamPark'', when S.J. remarks that the vegetation in Gaming Area A is from South America rather than New Guinea. Justified in-novel (though not in-Game) by the fact that the jungle setting had been constructed by the Army for a war-game scenario simulating an attack on Brazil, and was being reused for the South Seas Treasure Game.
* In the climax of ''Literature/DumaKey'', which takes place on an island off the west coast of Florida, the main characters have to go through a jungle containing plants that should not be there without human interference, like Australian or Brazilian trees. Justified, because the jungle was raised through supernatural means by the BigBad as protection.
* ''Literature/{{Hawksmaid}}'', a YA novel about the teenage Maid Marian and Myth/RobinHood, contains multiple references to potatoes; a vegetable completely unknown in 12th century England.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' is famous for it. One example, in several episodes of the second season we see ''aloe vera barbardensis''... in the jungle. Also, you can [[SpecialEffectFailure see their plastic pots]] sometimes. This can easily be {{handwave}}d, since the island apparently has the ability to move.
* In any given episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', look closely at "Central Park" and you'll see a great example of CaliforniaDoubling: since when do Eucalyptus and Cycad trees survive in New York?
* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' eating a tomato. In ancient Greece.
* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' had lots of ancient Greek villages with tomato-filled carts and corn cobs drying outside.
* St. Louis, Missouri is not nearly as riddled with evergreen trees and Lawrence, Kansas is not as leafy as ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' would have you believe, and most of the trees that are there are deciduous.
** The area "just outside of Grand Junction" happens to be a desert, which makes all the leafy greens outside the car when one of the characters states their location seem a little odd to Colorado natives.
*** It's possible they're lost ontop of Grand Mesa...in the spring. Even that is a stretch.
*** And Longmont, Colorado is not the idyllic mountain town with thick green foliage shown in the show. It's a suburb of Denver.
** Demian, in his ''Website/TelevisionWithoutPity'' recaps, often makes mention of Bobby's house set in the lush coastal rainforests of central South Dakota.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has been known to feature American vegetation on planets, even the ones where no man has gone before. Since they also have HumanAliens, Klingon coffee, and ''Romans speaking modern American English'', that's hardly inconsistent. They [[HandWave wave]] [[HollywoodEvolution "parallel evolution"]] around a lot on Franchise/StarTrek. For a specific example of getting real-world vegetation wrong in Franchise/StarTrek that doesn't have the "another planet" excuse, in the first episode of ''Enterpise,'' the Klingon ship crashes in Broken Bow, Oklahoma in the middle of a flat corn field. Broken Bow is far from flat, and in a coniferous forest to boot. You'd have to go to central and western Oklahoma to have any big giant corn fields like the one shown in this episode. Also doubles as ArtisticLicenseGeography due to the lack of the ubiquitous Ouachita Mountains that surround the area. Now, it wouldn't be bad if it had been set in Broken'' Arrow'', which still has rolling hills, but has lots of flat areas to grow corn in, but they apparently didn't think of that.
** In one episode of Deep Space Nine, Dr. Bashir [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it outright, by wondering why there's so much chlorophyll in the cells of plants on a planet orbiting a red giant.
* ''Series/GoodEats'' plays this for comedy. The episode "Down and Out in Paradise" is framed as Alton Brown being stranded on a desert island in order to show of tropical foods. Throughout the episode the various fruits, such as pineapples, mangos, and coconuts he finds confuses him as to where exactly he is, since none of those are naturally found in the same location. Turns out he was in Hawaii and just couldn't see the city across the bay from him due to losing his glasses.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{CSI}}'', the murder victim was found on a golf course. One clue to just where on the course the murder took place was a specific variety of bentgrass on the golf cart. Some bentgrasses are grown specifically for golf course use (they apparently make nice greens). The one they found is a noxious weed, and if it was growing ''anywhere'' on a tournament-class golf course the entire landscaping crew would have been fired.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** Daniel comes into contact with his wife and finds out where her child is, the planet he and his wife meet on is entirely covered in blooming Scotch Broom, which is quite invasive in the Pacific Northwest.
** Scenes that take place in the woods immediately outside Cheyenne Mountain usually depict a lush forest with lots of ferns, which certainly would ''not'' be found in comparatively arid Colorado Springs.
* Subverted in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' where [[spoiler:the presence of ''Strelitzia'' a.k.a. "Bird of Paradise" flowers which at first appears to be an example of this trope is actually a major plot point]].
* The 2001 miniseries of ''Series/{{The Lost World|2001}}'' has Prof. Summerlee lampshading the strange combination of flora he finds on the eponymous South American plateau.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in an ''Series/ElleryQueen'' episode where a cartoon magnate chews out his backgrounds man for drawing palm trees in Wisconsin. He was apparently supposed to draw ''elm'' trees.
* ''Series/RizzoliAndIsles'' regularly shows palm trees lining the streets of Boston, which is way too far north to support them outside of carefully monitored indoor habitats.
* ''Series/WetHotAmericanSummerFirstDayOfCamp'' mostly averts this, being filmed on-location at an actual East Coast summer camp. However, in a cameo in the last episode featuring Prof. Neumann hanging out in his cabin in rural Maine, he's seen on a deck underneath swaying Eucalyptus branches. The Eucalpytus is a tree native to Australia and common in California, but incapable of surviving Maine's wet climate and cold winters.

* The main theme for ''Videogame/KirbySuperStar'' sub game '''The Great Cave Offensive''' is called ''Trees in the Depths of the Earth''.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'': Giant water lilies from South America
* Absolutely everywhere in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', though it's justified by being imported species for government experiments. Interestingly, the one example ''Webcomic/TheLastDaysOfFoxhound'' chose to lampshade this trope (tumbleweeds) [[RealityIsUnrealistic is actually a native species to the region]], and an invasive weed in the southwestern United States where it is most well known.
* The [[UsefulNotes/{{Chile}} Valparaiso]] map of ''[[VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany Bad Company 2]]'' takes places in a jungle. The real Valparaiso is nowhere near any jungles, and has a semi-arid climate that more closely matches Southern California. Ditto the Valparaiso track in ''{{VideoGame/Wipeout}} 2097''
* ''VideoGame/Halo3'': Plants from the Pacific Northwest (e.g. rhododendrons, ivy)[[note]]Actually, both of these plants are native to the Old World, but definitely not to sub-Saharan Africa[[/note]] in the African jungle. And there aren't any jungles in that part of Kenya anyways.
* And again with Rafflesias, ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters The King of Fighters XIII]]'' has one in the Brazil stage.
* For some reason, Glacier le Cactank of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 3'' is an [[AnIcePerson ice-based cactus]] based in a snowy region.

* Prickly Pear cacti can be found in some islands in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOdyssey''. While it's widespread in modern Greece, the species is native the US and Mexico and wouldn't be introduced to Europe for more than two thousand years.

* Parodied in the "I Had an Accident" episode from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. While "sandboarding" (the underwater equivalent of snowboarding) down a sand dune, [=SpongeBob=] almost crashes into an unexplained coniferous tree wearing scuba gear.

* Thanks to mankind's tendency to move species around for the hell of it, you can find certain species in areas where they have no right whatsoever to grow. There is a small Caribbean island infested with ''pine trees'' that the government was having the darnedest time killing off. The eucalyptus tree, native to Australia, has expanded across southern California, South Africa, Madagascar's highlands, Ethiopia, and north of Spain for the same reason. Much like MisplacedWildlife, this either kills off the plants moved or the indigenous plants, depending on the environment. Many countries maintain noxious/invasive weed eradication programs similar to [[http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxiousDriver this US example]]. Eucalyptus trees in particular are exceptionally good at draining swamps, which is why they were imported into places as diverse as Israel (Mandatory Palestine at the time) and Southern California.

[[caption-width-right:300:♪ Sooooo why is a conifer under the sea? ♫]]

* ''Film/AliensVsPredatorRequiem'' is set in Gunnison, Colorado, which makes the lush, wet deciduous forest depicted surrounding the town seem rather strange to anyone who has seen the sparse pine forest that actually grows there.

* ''Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' is set in Gunnison, Colorado, which makes the lush, wet deciduous forest depicted surrounding the town seem rather strange to anyone who has seen the sparse pine forest that actually grows there.

* ''Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' is set in Gunnison, Colorado, which makes the lush, wet deciduous forest depicted surrounding the town seem rather strange to anyone who has seen the sparse pine forest which actually grows there in real life.

* ''Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' is set in Gunnison, Colorado, which makes the lush, wet deciduous forest depicted surrounding the town seem rather strange to anyone who has seen the sparse pine forest which actually grows on the "Western Slope" in real life.

* ''Film/Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' is set in Gunnison, Colorado, which makes the lush, wet deciduous forest depicted surrounding the town seem rather strange to anyone who has seen the sparse pine forest which actually grows on the "Western Slope" in real life.

* ''Film/Aliens vs Predator Requiem'' is set in Gunnison, Colorado, which makes the lush, wet deciduous forest depicted surrounding the town seem rather strange to anyone who has seen the sparse pine forest which actually grows on the "Western Slope" in real life.

* ''Film/AliensvsPredator:Requiem'' is set in Gunnison, Colorado, which makes the lush, wet deciduous forest depicted surrounding the town seem rather strange to anyone who has seen the sparse pine forest which actually grows on the "Western Slope" in real life.

* ''Film/AlienvsPredator2'' is set in Gunnison, Colorado, which makes the lush, wet deciduous forest depicted surrounding the town seem rather strange to anyone who has seen the sparse pine forest which actually grows on the "Western Slope" in real life.

** There are some references to "corn" in Tolkien's works, but he's using it in the [[SeperatedByACommonLanguage British English]] sense of "grain" in general or "the most common grain grown in an area", not referring to "maize-corn" like the Maya would eat in the Americas.

** There are some references to "corn" in Tolkien's works, but apparently he's using it very specifically in the more old-fashioned sense of "grain" in general ("corn" and "grain" used to be synonyms), not referring to "maize-corn" like the Maya would eat in the Americas.

* Tamarisk, a.k.a. Salt Cedar, is a drought-hardy plant that was brought to some areas of the US (Colorado and Utah have loads of this, particularly the Colorado river system), but is a majorly invasive species. You see, Tamarisk is originally from the Kazakh steppes not far from Russia. Eastern Colorado has a very similar climate to the Tamarisk's natural habitat, but has none of the natural counters to it. Thus this tree spreads like weeds all over the southwest's precious little water resources. It's difficult to kill off (you can't burn them out, the roots survive to grow again), they can (and in several places DO) suck a river dry, they weed out the native trees and plants and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking they're ugly to boot!]] The Colorado state and local governments have been waging a war against these plants for over 10 years and have yet to make significant progress against them. The current strategy employed is introducing ANOTHER species, the Tamarisk Leaf Beetle, Diorhabda elongata, which is released en mass every year to go out and eat the tamarisk.

* Another huge problem in the western US? Grass. Namely cheatgrass and several other species of brome. Originally introduced as feed, it went wild and took over the landscape, obliterating all native grasses in their path. Not only that, but because they aren't well adapted to dry environments, they're a huge fire hazard. Every year there are thousands of wildfires spread and fueled by these grasses.

* Bindweed, often mistaken for Morning Glory due to being in the same family.
* Blackcurrant almost became this. It's native to Europe, but was outlawed in the US because it carried the vector for white pine rust, and this threatened the logging industry in New England. While it is not a federal ban anymore, it's making a bit of a "comeback" from places like New York. As a result of the longtime ban for Blackcurrant, combined with the fact that they don't grow ''as'' well, Americans prefer the more native Blueberries or Cranberries.
* Somewhat zigzagged with Raspberries -- surprisingly they are ''also'' native to the old world ''and'' the new world.

* Anywhere north of the sixtieth parallel is either boreal forest, tundra, or shield country (or, if you go ''really'' far north, sea ice). Boreal forest has a very distinctive appearance -- the trees are mostly conifers, with the occasional birch or larch[[note]]which despite appearances, is actually a deciduous conifer; contrary to common belief, the two aren't mutually exclusive[[/note]] thrown in, and very tall and skinny. A forest full of thick deciduous angiosperm (or worse, non-coniferous gymnosperm; very few will confuse a ginkgo for a pine) trees pretending to be the Yukon isn't particularly convincing, no matter how much snow is on the ground.
* Most cases of grass in the Mesozoic era or earlier, due to ScienceMarchesOn. The "Walking With..." was one of the only series to avert this, until they recently found out that [[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8336--fossil-dung-reveals-dinosaurs-did-graze-grass.html there was grass during the Cretaceous period]].

* Pineapples are strongly associated with Hawaii and the Caribbean... and originated in South America. To the extent that in Peru, if not other South American countries, restaurants will frequently call menu items "Hawaiian" if pineapple is an ingredient.
* Speaking of Hawaii, this is a very interesting example. Studies have shown that sweet potatoes were a widely-used crop of ancient Hawaii. More studies have shown that sweet potatoes are, in fact, not native to Hawaii or any of the islands the Native Hawaiians could've migrated from. They're actually native to South America. How the Native Hawaiians obtained sweet potatoes has been a subject of debate.

* Indian Figs are native to the Americas, but have successfully invaded most of the Mediterranean region after they were introduced in the 1500s. They also became a plague in Australia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, prompting government policies to eradicate them. A more common name for Indian figs is "prickly pear cactus", for clarity.

* A German soccer team trainer once famously stated that a certain African player should go back to Africa to dribble around the cacti; little did he know that there's only one cactus species that can be found on the whole African continent, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhipsalis_baccifera the mistletoe cactus]].
* ''Rhododendron ponticum'' is not native to the UK, having been introduced in the 18th century (it had existed in region prior to the last Ice Age but had not recolonised after the ice retreated). It has caused untold damage to the native flora and fauna and is considered a major pest with eradication strategies having been in place for years. However, it's found everywhere so people often don't realize that it's an introduced species, or how much damage it's doing to the environment. This lack of awareness is especially evident in period shows where, despite the producers doing their best to make the location look as un-modern as possible, they don't tend to care if plants such as rhododendron appear in shot despite them not having been introduced to the country at the time of the show's setting.

This can come up frequently in Fantasy works set in pseudo-Medieval Europe: it's actually anachronistic for them to have New World crops like tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, maize-corn, etc. For that matter, ''rubber'' shouldn't exist in such worlds (rubber trees have been exported around the world, but they're native to South America). Different Fantasy series handle this different ways - with some just embracing the anachronism.

AllDesertsHaveCacti is a common subtrope. May occasionally be the result of SoCalization, though filmmakers are careful not to show palm trees growing in places too temperate for them. Viewers aren't ''that'' moronic.

* A good real life example is in California: Palm Trees. They're not native to this area, they were just brought here because they grow nicely here and "look pretty." Problem. Here? They ''rain'' pollen, so if you're in SoCal and wonder why you can't stop sneezing: it's because of this trope. The one exception is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingtonia_filifera the Washington Palm]], ''Washingtonia filifera''. It's for this tree that Palm Springs was named. However, this is usually not the same tree that lines the streets of LA and other Southwestern cities.

* Disney's ''Disney/TheJungleBook'': if you look very closely during the Elephant Patrol's first appearance in the film, you can actually see acacia trees in the background. Acacias grow in very dry deserts and scrubland, not jungles. In the same movie, Baloo explains to Mowgli in a song how to pick the fruit of the prickly pear... which is a species of cactus from the arid zones of America (though it's known to become an invasive species elsewhere, especially in Australia).

* Thanks to mankind's tendency to move species around for the hell of it, you can find certain species in areas where they have no right whatsoever to grow. There is a small Caribbean island infested with ''pine trees'' that the government was having the darnedest time killing off. The eucalyptus tree, native to Australia, has expanded across southern California, South Africa, Madagascar's highlands, and Ethiopia, and north of Spain for the same reason. Much like MisplacedWildlife, this either kills off the plants moved or the indigenous plants, depending on the environment. Many countries maintain noxious/invasive weed eradication programs similar to [[http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxiousDriver this US example]]. Eucalyptus trees in particular are exceptionally good at draining swamps, which is why they were imported into places as diverse as Israel (Mandatory Palestine at the time) and Southern California.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': J.R.R. Tolkien stated that Middle-earth is supposed to actually ''be'' our real world, thousands of years ago in some lost historical era (as opposed to a pure fantasy construction), and the parts were actually see more or less turned into Europe many eons later. Tolkien was also painfully aware, however, that it would be anachronistic for New World crops to exist in a pseudo-medieval setting like this (particularly one actually meant to be in the real past). This infamously led Tolkien to come up with an elaborate explanation for how the Hobbits can still smoke tobacco: the Numenorean explorers ''brought it'' to Middle-earth from some other continent (i.e. the ancient analogue of the Americas or something). Potatoes also exist in Middle-earth, and presumably were brought to it in the same fashion.

* ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' features venus flytraps that are apparently [[ArtisticLicenseBiology growing on vines]]... in the middle of the vaguely South American jungle. Real life venus flytraps are found only in a vanishingly small range in coastal North Carolina. They are horrifyingly endangered in the wild. (The More You Know...). And Venus Flytraps don't "snap" shut; it usually takes at least second or two for the trap to mostly close, and several minutes to seal up completely. It also doesn't go "snap" -- it's silent. The "teeth" are stiff bits of leaf, so ''no'' they can't bite your finger, nor can anything larger than a largish housefly get stuck in the trap. (Take two leaves, hold them together around your finger. Try to get loose. There ya go.) And despite what you see in movies, the ''biggest'' trap is less than two inches across.

* [[WesternAnimation/MiscellaneousDisneyShorts An earlier animated work]] called ''Disney/GoliathII'' featured acacia trees growing in India.
* Another Disney case, ''Disney/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea'' features a massive tropical coral reef beneath ''friggin polar ice sheet''.[[note]]While coral reefs aren't vegetation per se (they are mostly animals), they would still count as they feature as the dominant underwater terrain.[[/note]] Actual polar marine ecosystems can sometimes appear quite lush, but definitely not ''tropical coral reefs with colorful fish''. That's a pinch from the movie's [[HollywoodAtlas big geography mess-up]]. Wait... complete with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridacna ice-hating giant clams]].

** Many plant species are also found growing outside of their typical climates. In the [[GrimUpNorth cold northern clime]] of Skyrim alone, one can find Boston Ferns (Florida and the Caribbean), Orchids growing in the ground (Philippines, and they grow in ''trees''), Cryptanthus (Brazil), Norfolk Island Pines (New Zealand), and even variegated Algerian Ivy (a modern garden cultivar that was certainly not available to the Scandinavians in the Middle Ages). Likewise, [[FantasticDrug Moon Sugar]], a FantasticDrug similar in appearance and effect to real-world cocaine, is primarily grown in the desert environment of Elsweyr. Real life Coca plants are almost entirely grown in low-altitude South American jungle environments.
*** actually not all orchids grow in trees, and some grow in climates with cold and showy winters. Though unlike the Skyrim orchids, most are fairly small plants. And the ferns shown in the game could easily be a hardy variety like the Buckler Fern. But tomatoes should not be a common crop anywhere farmers frequently complain of frosty nights during the growing season, and anywhere described as "tundra" should not have trees. "treeless" is part of the definition of "tundra"