History Main / ThatPoorPlant

[[quoteright:260:[[Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/plant_5.png]]]]

* Used hilariously in ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' - a cactus ends up ''turning into a topiary llama'' after Yzma pours some (what she thought was) poison-laced drink into it, only to find out after it transforms Kuzco that it was actually "extract of llama". Earlier, she got the idea to poison Kuzco when she, in full EvilPlan gloat-mode, accidentally knocked a vial of poison onto a plant, providing us with the current page image.

* Madame Mim's first use of magic in Disney's ''Disney/TheSwordInTheStone'' is to wither a flower on her window sill.

* ''Anime/TheLegendOfSnowWhite'': Queen Chrystal [[MoreThanMindControl convinces]] he's actually evil and tasks him with delivering a bouquet of poisoned flowers to Snow White. When he can't go through with it and drops the bouquet on the forest floor, all plant life within a few feet of it withers and dies.

A SisterTrope to IllFatedFlowerbed.

Are you a [[MadScientist scientist]] who wants to test your new [[SuperSerum mystery formula]]? Just take an eyedropper and drop a few drops in the soil of your Philodendron. If it's a [[CureForCancer miracle cure]], the plant will go from wilting to flourishing -- and possibly to [[GoneHorriblyRight horribly mutated]]. If it's deadly poison, as it so often is, it will go from healthy and green to a sad pile of ashen leaves and shriveled vines. (Do note: for added drama, the plant will often wait to transform until you're sure that nothing is going to happen and leave the lab disappointed. ''Then'' it will probably turn into a monster and start wreaking havoc.)

Do you suspect that your friend is infected with TheVirus or some sort of radioactivity? Do you want to make sure it's still safe to go near him? Have him go near a potted Ficus. If your friend is dangerous, the tree will instantly shrivel and die, all its leaves falling off at once.

Is your friend a LethalChef, but you don't want to hurt their feelings? Do you just want to make sure their cooking is safe to eat? When they're not looking, dump the -er- food into the Dracaena's pot. The plant will probably curl its leaves and die at once from the toxic substance meant to be comestible. Good thing ''you'' didn't eat it. [[DiscreetDrinkDisposal It works with drinks, too.]]

* In one episode of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', Xellos made a vegetable stew so noxious, the ingredients were screaming in pain... Taking part of a cooking competition though, he thought the whole idea was to [[LethalChef kill the competition.]]

* In ''Fanfic/AwfulLotOfCoffeeInEquestria'' has an unusual example of this trope. Princess Luna once had a plastic desk cactus. That she managed to kill. Somehow.

* Used hilariously in ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' - a cactus ends up ''turning into a topiary llama'' after Yzma pours some (what she thought was) poison-laced drink into it, only to find out after it transforms Kuzco that it was actually "extract of llama". Earlier, she got the idea to poison Kuzco when she, in full EvilPlan gloat-mode, accidentally knocks a vial of poison onto a plant, providing us with the current page image.

* Creator/AbbottAndCostello's movie ''The Naughty Nineties'' had a hilarious scene where the [[BigBad Big Bad]] and Costello's character Sebastian are put alone together in a private room in a theater, where she proceeds to poison his drink. They then do a PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo back and forth until ''he'' gets confused and opts to toss the drink in the fern next to him. Sebastian watches the fern die very slowly, and then wipes his glass ''very'' thoroughly on his tux.

* ''WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu'': In "Gas", the flowers in the meadow where Snafu is lazing wither and die as the sentient cloud of DeadlyGas touches down.

* ''WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu'': In "Gas", the flowers in the meadow where Snafu is lazing with and die as the sentient cloud of DeadlyGas touches down.

* ''Film/ScaryMovie2'' has Shorty using a PsychoSerum on his marijuana plants. The plant later grows, becomes sentient, and starts smoking Shorty like he was a blunt.

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Death in Disguise", Barnaby is given a cup of acorn coffee, which her surreptitiously tips into a plant. When he returns on a different day and is offered another cup, he declines, then comments to Troy that the plant looks a bit peaky.

* In ''Fanfic/AwfulLotofCoffeeinEquestria'' has an unusual example of this trope. Princess Luna once had a plastic desk cactus. That she managed to kill. Somehow.

* Film/TheThreeStooges often did this. One variant also used curling wallpaper when they threw some strong drink over their shouldsat a wall. Subverted once when squeezing a hanky full of tears into the pot caused a flower to ''grow''.

[[quoteright:269:[[Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thatpoorplant02_5051.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:269:Agent Pink, the {{Mayincatec}} forerunner to Agent Orange. ]]

* Subverted and inverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''. Bushroot is out to make himself [[AesopAmnesia another plant friend]]. He comes up with a mutating formula that seems to work. Then it gets on Gosalyn, mutating her into [[BlobMonster a slime creature]]. While looking for a cure, Darkwing tested the formula on a plant and learned that the mutation had four stages: intelligence, ravenous appetite, insanity...and finally, [[ImMelting liquification]]. Fortunately, Darkwing announces that he did find a cure... although how he figured out that cure from testing on plants is never explained. [[spoiler:The cure is a hot bath with ''lots'' of soap.]]

* One S2 episode of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' had Bloom experimenting with her recently discovered healing powers, using some plants as test subjects. However, since the book she had gotten from the library had been plantedqq there by an evil spy, it caused the spells she used to cause one of the plants to burst into fire, and another to turn into a monster. This trope is also inverted when in S4 [[spoiler: Ogron, the leader of the Wizards of the Black Circle steals the gift of life which could be used to bring a dead person back to life and uses it on a dead flower to prevent the Winx from using it to revive Nabu, who had just sacrificed himself to save the Earth fairies from the Dark Abyss that the Wizards of the Black Circle had created.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy CrossesTheLineTwice when Meg dumps a glass of drugged punch in a plotted plant. The plant droops as if unconscious, then another potted plant hops over to hump it while it's out.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SWATKats'' a doctor tested a new growth formula on a wilting rose. It began thriving, and he experiment a success. Then his assistant tried to steal the formula, got doused with it, and died. The next day, the flower mutated, {{foreshadowing}} the assistant's immanent ressurection as Dr. Viper.

* Subverted and inverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck''. Bushroot is out to make himself [[AesopAmnesia another plant friend]]. He comes up with a promising goop that seems to work. Then it gets on Gosalyn. Then Darkwing tests the goop on a smaller plant then the one Bushroot used... and the plant dies within minutes. Apparently, the goop is deadly within a day or two. But Darkwing announces that he did find a cure... although how he figured out that cure from testing on plants is never explained. [[spoiler:The cure is a hot bath with ''lots'' of soap.]]

* Family Guy CrossesTheLineTwice when Meg dumps a glass of drugged punch in a plotted plant. The plant droops as if unconscious, then another potted plant hops over to hump it while it's out.

'''John''': To murder sentient beings in order to save a few stinking plants?
'''Zhaan''': How animal-centric of you, John.
'''John''': Sorry, Zhaan. I forgot. You're a-
'''Zhaan''': I am a "stinking plant".

--> -- '''Bender''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* [[ComicBook/TheSmurfs Papa Smurf]] once had an experiment with a daisy gone awry.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* Aversion: In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', Garion's recently-discovered cousin Adara asks for him to show his magic powers by making a bush bloom again. Garion refuses since it's winter and the bush would die. He then creates a new flower for her out of a twig and grass.
** The flower is decidedly lopsided, puny, and... well, it's lopsided, let's leave it at that. Give Garion a break; it's his first go at live transmutation. It's nicknamed Adara's Rose, because Garion [[KissingCousins really, really loves]] his beautiful Algarian cousin, (or so Ce'Nedra thinks), and it ''does'' have a nice smell. And oh, did we mention it's a ''sovereign specific'', cures any poisoning? Imagine wearing anti-poison as a perfume (Sadi wonders if it works as antivenin as well; we never do get to find out). One of the funnier scenes in the Malloreon plays out during this arc, especially when Belgarath tries to get the plant to grow.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' featured an arc where Wally's potted plant becomes the waste receptacle for his coffee dregs. Dilbert later suggests to him that he switch to decaf; the next panel shows a giant tree growing out of the office building.
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[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''Series/Murdoch/Mysteries'':