Spooky plants in the botanical world

While pumpkins are the plant we most associate with Halloween, there are other ghastly, creepy, or supernatural plants, some in appearance and others in name only.

The Bat Flower is among the spookiest, creepiest, weirdest of all plant specimens. Photo: B. Shrader, CC BY-ND 2.0

The Ghost Dogwood, Cornus wilsoniana, is a small tree, similar in size and shape to the more familiar native dogwood, but actually comes to us from Central and Southern Asia. It has white small white flowers that are borne in clusters at the terminal ends of branches, which are attractive but not as much so as those of the native dogwood. Ghost Dogwood gets its name from the color of its bark, which peels as it ages, creating blotches of gray and green on young trunks before maturing to a pure, ghostly white on older trees. 
 
Then we have Spiderwort, Tradescantia virginiana. Spiderwort is an early spring flowering perennial native to the Southeastern United States. It likes to grow in moist soils and can tolerate sun or shade. Its flowers are comprised of three bluish-purple petals, with ‘web-like’ filaments springing from their center. Spiderwort can spread aggressively, and is sometimes mistakenly referred to as invasive, which by definition it cannot be since it is a native to our area. Plants are self-sterile, but will cross-pollinate with other nearby colonies of spiderwort with different genetics. Spiderwort is often divided and shared with others, giving it ample opportunity to pop up in areas where it is unexpected, and perhaps unwanted, not unlike spiders and their webs.

Left: Bark from a Ghost Dogwood tree. Photo: J. Robbins, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Above right: Spiderwort blooms have weblike filaments springing from their center. Photo: S. Strine, CC BY 2.0

Next are the Witchhazels, Hamamelis virginiana and Hamemelis x intermedia, Hybrid Witchhazel. These plants are medium to large shrubs, with uniquely shaped flowers that tend to open in January through early March, when the twigs of the shrub are bare. The shape and arrangement of the petals on Witchhazel blossoms is sometimes referred to as ‘spider-like,’ as the individual petals are long and slender and come together at a central point, resembling long spider legs joining its body.

Why is the plant called Witchhazel rather than Spiderhazel? Perhaps because many parts of the plant – twigs, leaves, bark, and buds – have long been used to make various medicinal concoctions, a trait that may have reminded the botanist who named this plant ‘witch’s brew.’ Another possible explanation, however, ties back to the old English word wyche, pronounced similarly to witch, meaning flexible, which certainly describes the young stems of Witchhazel. Still another possible reason is the practice of Native Americans, and the early English settlers who learned from them, to use branches from this plant as a divining rod to find sources of underground water, which was referred to as ‘water-witching.’

Above: Common Witchhazel's yellow, spiderlike blooms appear in the winter, a welcome sight when blooms may be in short supply. Photo: D. Roos, CC BY 2.0 

Right:  The Hybrid Witchhazel's blooms resemble a spider's body and legs.

We saved the creepiest for last, Cuphea llavea, known commonly as Bat flower or Bat-faced cuphea. There is no mystery whatsoever why Bat flower is named Bat flower. This 18-24” tall perennial native to Mexico that is not quite cold-hardy in North Carolina, and thus acts as an annual here, has flowers that resemble a bat. The flowers have a hairy purple calyx which s like the body of a bat, often even appearing to form the shape of an open mouth at their center, with two red petals that point upward on either side, in the appearance of wings. An observer more familiar with the comic book character Batman may simply see the silhouette of Batman’s head when looking at the flower. Pollinators aren’t scared by it, but you may be!  

Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center.  If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705.