History Main / FoulFlower

* ''Series/FoulFlower'': In "The Germans", Basil dislikes real flowers, preferring artificial ones. He also instructs Terry the chef to put them in the dishwasher.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': Flowey the Flower is a malevolent FauxAffablyEvil yellow flower who teaches the protagonist that "[[TheSocialDarwinist in this world, it's kill or be killed]]", and would have killed them if Toriel hadn't intervened. [[spoiler:At the end, it is revealed that Flowey is actually the essence of Prince Asriel that was absorbed by a golden flower, and [[LackOfEmpathy lacks empathy and love due to [[TheSoulless the loss of his SOUL]]]]. The neutral ending pushes the NightmareFuel up a notch by turning him into a BotanicalAbomination.]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': Flowey the Flower is a malevolent FauxAffablyEvil yellow flower who teaches the protagonist that "[[TheSocialDarwinist in this world, it's kill or be killed]]", and would have killed them if Toriel hadn't intervened. [[spoiler:At the end, it is revealed that Flowey is actually the essence of Prince Asriel that was absorbed by a golden flower, and [[LackofEmpathy lacks empathy and love due to the loss of his SOUL]]. The neutral ending pushes the NightmareFuel UpToEleven by turning him into a BotanicalAbomination.]]

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC-bVtpIMd4 Mopemope]]'' is an animated video that looks as if it's made for toddlers, with bright colorful visuals and happy smiling flowers...that soon turn into [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] with flailing arms for petals and widely smiling mouths full of teeth.

Fictional plants especially seem to be designed to inflict maximum harm. The aforementioned spores may be [[FesteringFungus deliberately weaponized in fiction to infect hosts]]. Less subtle plants may sport [[SpikesOfVillainy thorns]] or possessing [[PetalPower razor sharp leaves or petals]].

Fictional plants especially seem to be designed to inflict maximum harm. The aforementioned spores may be [[FesteringFungus deliberately weaponized in fiction to infect hosts]]. Less subtle plants may sport [[SpikesOfVillainy thorns]] or possessing [[PetalPower razor sharp leaves or petals]]. When the plants also happen to be sentient and aggressive, you may have a case of WhenTreesAttack.

Compare ManEatingPlant and BotanicalAbomination, other villainous plants which are usually portrayed as more ObviouslyEvil than a Foul Flower. There may be some overlap, though.

Fictional plants especially seem to be designed to inflict maximum harm. The aforementioned spores may be [[FestringFungus deliberately weaponized in fiction to infect hosts]]. Less subtle plants may sport [[SpikesOfVillainy thorns]] or possessing [[PetalPower razor sharp leaves or petals]]. When the plants also happen to be sentient and aggressive, you may have a case of WhenTreesAttack.

This negative portrayal may stem (no pun intended!) from the fact that a few flowers really do have some negative connotations. For example, ''Rafflesia arnoldii'' are known for their corpse-like smell, and CherryBlossoms are used for connotations of death, due to not lasting very long, which reminds people of their own mortality.

We will sing for hours and hours,\\

Now I'll solo on this flute!\\

* Rosygury of ''Animation/NoonboryAndTheSuper7'' is a flower-theme villain. She looks sweet on the outside, but she's really nasty and selfish, and uses flowers and other plants (usually vines) to mess with the borys.

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'': Yuuka Kazami is a flower youkai... and one of the oldest and most powerful beings you can find in a setting that includes PhysicalGods and {{Reality Warper}}s. In the past she has expressed the sentiment that she just considers genocide to be a game, and the official UniverseCompendium goes to great lengths to reinforce her position as TheDreaded, smacking her with a Threat Level of "Extremely High," which is typically reserved for PersonsOfMassDestruction, and a Human Friendship Level of "Worst," which is, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as it implies,]] a Friendship Level that only Yuuka is bad enough to deserve. Fandom has nicknamed her the "Ultimate Sadistic Creature" and likes to show her inflicting DisproportionateRetribution on people who disturb her sunflower field.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': Flowey the Flower, pictured above, is a malevolent FauxAffablyEvil yellow flower who teaches the protagonist that "[[TheSocialDarwinist in this world, it's kill or be killed]]", and would have killed them if Toriel hadn't intervened. [[spoiler:At the end, it is revealed that Flowey is actually the essence of Prince Asriel that was absorbed by a golden flower, and [[LackofEmpathy lacks empathy and love due to the loss of his SOUL]]. The neutral ending pushes the NightmareFuel UpToEleven by turning him into a BotanicalAbomination.]]

* ''VideoGame/TouhouProject'': Yuuka Kazami is a flower youkai... and one of the oldest and most powerful beings you can find in a setting that includes PhysicalGods and {{Reality Warper}}s. In the past she has expressed the sentiment that she just considers genocide to be a game, and the official UniverseCompendium goes to great lengths to reinforce her position as TheDreaded, smacking her with a Threat Level of "Extremely High," which is typically reserved for PersonsOfMassDestruction, and a Human Friendship Level of "Worst," which is, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as it implies,]] a Friendship Level that only Yuuka is bad enough to deserve. Fandom has nicknamed her the "Ultimate Sadistic Creature" and likes to show her inflicting DisproportionateRetribution on people who disturb her sunflower field.

** ''Series/UltramanTiga'': Gijera is a flower-like EldritchAbomination that only blossoms when [[AncientEvil Gatanozoa]]'s arrival is near. It produces an addicting pollen that puts humans in a state of hypnotic bliss, making them oblivious to upcoming apocalypse and fight each other over the pollen.

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': Potted Plant looks like an ordinary potted flower, but is actually a dangerous bounty hunter. Also, it transforms into [[spoiler:a big ManEatingPlant, Though it still retains its petals and yellow face]].

[[folder:Real Life]]
* As mentioned above, while most flowers appear beautiful and smell wonderful to humans, their main purpose is to attract pollinators. If their pollinators happen to be carrion-loving flies, then many will try to appeal to them by looking and smelling like rotting corpses. Given that there weren't yet any bees or butterflies around when flowering plants first evolved, but flies were already plentiful, smelling like rotting flesh or dung is thought to be flowers' ''original'' pollination strategy. In fact, many of the same substances that give certain flowers pleasant smells have a foul odour in higher concentrations. For example, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skatole Skatole]], which smells exactly like what the name implies, also gives orange blossoms and jasmine flowers their sweet, flowery fragrance.
* While carnivorous plants have elaborate means to attract and capture their food, they don't really count as "Foul Flowers" due to the fact that what they use aren't really their flowers, but modified leaves. In fact, many of these plants grow their flowers far away from their traps so they don't end up capturing and consuming their own pollinators.
* Invoked by many small predators of insects, which hide inside flowers so they can ambush nectar-hungry prey. Some specialized predators such as mantids or eyelash vipers have evolved to mimic parts of the flowers they lurk within.
* Just like all wild organisms in general, flowering plants are subject to the rigors of living in the wild. It really is a "Kill or be killed" world and plants had to come up with all kinds of defenses to protect them from predators (herbivorous animals) and competing plants. These range from toxins, spines, irritants and outright chemical warfare. Many ordinary ornamental plants you'd find in someone's flowerbed are toxic, like the foxglove. Obviously, this is a holdover from their chemistry attained in the wild, but can put the families growing them in danger, especially if little kids are running around unattended...
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--> -- '''[=PlantMan.exe=]''', ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork 3''

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': Flowey the Flower, is a malevolent FauxAffablyEvil yellow flower who teaches the protagonist that "[[TheSocialDarwinist in this world, it's kill or be killed]]", and would have killed them if Toriel hadn't intervened. [[spoiler:At the end, it is revealed that Flowey is actually the essence of Prince Asriel that was absorbed by a golden flower, and [[LackofEmpathy lacks empathy and love due to the loss of his SOUL]]. The neutral ending pushes the NightmareFuel UpToEleven by turning him into a BotanicalAbomination.]] He's also the page image.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': Flowey the Flower, pictured, is a malevolent FauxAffablyEvil yellow flower who teaches the protagonist that "[[TheSocialDarwinist in this world, it's kill or be killed]]", and would have killed them if Toriel hadn't intervened. [[spoiler:At the end, it is revealed that Flowey is actually the essence of Prince Asriel that was absorbed by a golden flower, and [[LackofEmpathy lacks empathy and love due to the loss of his SOUL]]. The neutral ending pushes the NightmareFuel UpToEleven by turning him into a BotanicalAbomination.]]