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UPDATE: Please note that the question was already answered perfectly - I am not looking for additional examples

I remember that there was a sentient life form evoloved from plants in Star Control 2 game (Supox).

Is there an example of such a life form in the major well known SciFi works/franchises?

Please note that it must be

  • directly evolved from plants. E.g. Endervers' fathertrees on Lusitania don't count - they are a result of genetic messing by Descolada virus.

  • Sci-Fi works (e.g. magical trees - ala Whomping Willow in Harry Potter don't count, neither do the Arda's Ents)

  • Clearly sentient (e.g. Triffids don't count IMHO since I don't think they are clearly proven to be fully sentient in the books, although I could be wrong).

  • Preferbly, though not required, an actual species, as opposed to a single Yggdrasil (well, I am not sure if Yggdrasil is sentient anyway, and it's not Sci-Fi to boot)

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    Please note that someone provided a great example from a TV show. I would love to also have an example from a SciFi book, if exists, in addition to that.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 15:18
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    This feels like it is dangerously close to a list question with likely no one correct answer.
    – Xantec
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 15:34
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    @Xantec - it's a "is there" yes/no question that has already be correctly answered with an example. I wasn't looking for an exhaustive list, as evidenced by "Is there an..." wording.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 15:51
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    Touché. (spacing for 15 characters)
    – Xantec
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 15:56
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    Questions asking for lists of works having a particular topic are not welcome here. Please see the FAQ and the meta discussion that triggered it. We have a chatroom for this, though it doesn't get many visitors (you would in fact be better off in the main chatroom).
    – user56
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 21:53

8 Answers 8

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In Farscape the Delvians are humanoid walking plants.

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  • +10 for making me read an article with the word "photogasms" at work :)
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 15:14
  • @DVK how do you not know about Delvians?
    – AncientSwordRage ♦
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 18:39
  • @DVK I thought Farscape was well known, is all.
    – AncientSwordRage ♦
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 18:53
  • @DVK, what are you doing on this site? ;)
    – Jonathan.
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 19:40
  • @DVK, yep I know I, was joking, that you haven't watched farscape :) (I was surprised you hadn't watched it given your profile)
    – Jonathan.
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 19:47
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  • The Kanten species in David Brin's Uplift series
  • The Cactaceae in China Miéville's Bas-Lag series

And see also this Wikipedia link, and this TV Tropes one.

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The plant from Little Shop of Horrors is sentient.

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  • This is a good example, although I'd say LSoH is just barely borderline SciFi.
    – eidylon
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 18:33
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    @eidylon Do you know any giant talking plants, in science-fact??
    – AncientSwordRage ♦
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 18:42
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    LOL - no, just saying, people see LSoH, they don't generally consider themselves watching science-fiction, but just "fiction". I'm not saying I agree with that assessment, mind you.
    – eidylon
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 18:58
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    @eidylon while that may be true, we're open to all forms of speculative fiction here! Urban fantasy, alternate history, horror...don't matter.
    – Ian Pugsley
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 21:12
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Vernor Vinge's "Zones of Thought" series, primarily in A Fire Upon The Deep, features aliens known as Skroderiders. They're described as looking "like a small ornamental tree sitting in a six-wheeled cart" Baen Books has put the first 8 chapters on line: http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/0812515285/0812515285_toc.htm

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  • In The Children of the Sky we are introduced to their vary much mobile and animal larval form. The Skroderiders are sessile, not vegetable.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 16:25
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    Have only gotten about a third into Children... so I didn't know about their larval form, fwiw sessile does not rule out vegetable. "Plants may be categorized into two groups: petiolate plants wherein petioles are present and sessile plants in which petioles are absent." -from biology-online.org/dictionary/Sessile_plant
    – Strangeland
    Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 17:04
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There is the Verdani world-forest in The Saga of Seven Suns and the Thorian from Mass Effect.

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Avatar would seem to have an entire forest ecosystem that is sentient.

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I think the plant-girl Lyekka was my favorite character from Lexx.

Now that you can actually watch lexx episodes in order instead of at the mercy of the broadcaster it's worth a try--it's a good show as long as you take it as it's meant to be taken (as in a tribute to 60's style sci-fi such as Barbarella)

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The Phylosians of Star Trek:TAS are sentient plants http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Phylosian

The Zolfa-Thuran "Meglos" was described as a kind of sentient cactus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meglos

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