Flora

The planets in Astroneer contain a large variety of flora, from dangerous flora to flora that aids in progression. They vary in shape, sizes, and colors, and are found on all planets.

Hostile Flora
Hostile Flora are types of hazardous flora that harms, and in some cases, kills the player. They spawn on all layers of planets, with some only showing up on certain planets, such as the varieties of Attactus only found on Calidor or Atrox. Players will need to be more careful the deeper they go into a planet, with hostile flora being around a corner. To destroy Hostile Flora, use the Terrain Tool to uproot them. After destroying the flora, it may drop 1 to 3 Research Samples.

Defensive Flora
Defensive flora only harms the players when getting next to or jumping on to the plant, typically knocking back the player and causing initial damage. If the player gets knocked too high, the player may take fall damage and die. Defensive flora has a chance when dug up to drop a seed, allowing it to be replanted to gain even more Seeds, Research Samples or Research Items at the roots.

Popcoral
Popcoral can be found in abundance in caves and are mostly harmless. Upon digging with the Terrain Tool at their base they will explode. This explosion can be fatal if a player is standing too near, but they can be safely dug up from a distance. They will drop a couple of Research Samples, making these a bountiful source of research early on.

Wheezeweed
Wheezeweeds are big, round yellow plants with holes revealing a red membrane, found on Atrox and Calidor. When the player approaches them, they produce a wheezing sound and the membrane puffs out through the holes. If the player gets too close they rapidly puff up, knocking the player back a good distance.

Spinelily
Spinelilies are spiky lilypads that can form in small clusters, found on Calidor and Atrox. When a player jumps on them it will launch them in the air, and may cause damage if launched too high.

Lashleaf
Lashleafs are flora with two leaves with a pink tongue-like leaf in the middle, found on Vesania and Novus. When the player steps on one, it will launch them into the air.

Bouncevine
Bouncevines are a green plant with red vines, found on the surface of Sylva. When stepped on, the player will get launched up in the air. Since they mostly are found in the mountainous biome, the player could be launched high enough to be killed by fall damage.

Thistlewhip
Thistlewhips are plants that have a purple base with a long orange vine with a bulbous end, found on Vesania and Novus. When the player gets close enough, the vine will shake and produce pollen as a warning. When the player moves closer, it whips at the player with the vine.

Offensive Flora
Offensive flora typically has a larger range of attack and are more deadly than defensive flora, such as shooting projectiles or spraying clouds of acid.

Daggeroot
Daggeroot are a white plant with red spots, found mostly on Desolo, and pose a danger to the player. Getting too close to the Daggeroot will cause them to release dangerous spikes around them which could kill the player in just a few hits.

Hissbine
Hissbines are flora that generates underground on all planets. If the player gets too close, it will spray a cloud of acid at the player, similar to the removed Acid Pot. There are three varieties: Normal, Vibrant and Dull. The acid clouds from these varieties deal different amounts of damage, with Normal Hissbines being the least deadly, and Dull being the most dangerous. More difficult planets have more dangerous Hissbines.

Boomalloon
Boomalloons are flora that generates on the surface and caves of Glacio. If the player gets too close, they explode with a cloud of acid. They are similar to Popcoral, but these only require the player being near to explode. They have a hitbox that is used to detect if the player is close enough for it to explode, but this hitbox has some strange properties. The hitbox will prevent players from interacting with things in it such as scanning Research Samples, or dropping items in it.

Cataplant
Cataplants are flora that has an arm with a red orb, with the base being colored depending on the variety. If the player gets in range, it will begin tossing the red orb at the player. After a couple of seconds the orb will then explode, making a cloud of gas if it is a Noxious Cataplant, and causing an actual explosion if it is a Volatile Cataplant. The Cataplant will continue throwing orbs until the player moves away or is dead. Such orbs sometimes will clip through the terrain, rendering the player safe of the attack. Noxious Cataplants can be found on the surfaces and caves of Vesania and Novus, while Volatile Cataplants can be found on Atrox and in groups of three on Glacio. If you are killed by the Volatile Cataplants, there is a chance some of your items are destroyed.

Attactus
Attacti, plural of Attactus, are flora that generate on the surface and underground, with Spiny Attacti generating on Calidor and Volatile Attacti on Atrox. If the player gets in range, it will activate and start spitting deadly projectiles at the player. When the projectile collides with terrain, it will explode into gas if it is a Spiny Attactus, or give a small explosion and destroy a small portion of soil if it is a Volatile Attactus. The explosion from a Volatile Attactus can also destroy player's vehicles which makes Volatile Attacti quite dangerous for rovers or shuttles.

Spewflower
Elegant and Noxious Spewflowers are flora that respectively generate on the surface and underground of Atrox. If the player gets near, they will retract their umbrella-shaped leaf and begin to spew poison in a radius until the player dies or moves away from the plant. The player may stand on the edge of the poison cloud to observe the spewflowers in action. The poison clouds from Noxious Spewflowers do considerably more damage than those from Elegant Spewflowers.

Spookysquash
Gnarled Spookysquash were pumpkin-like flora that could be found on Vesania and Atrox, and drop seeds for the other five varieties when dug up. When planted they can grow into a Round, Mutated, Smiling, Stunted or Astro Spookysquash. The type of seed determines the variety grown.

Other Floras
Aside from hazardous flora and spooky squash, there is flora that doesn't have much use other than as decoration. Most of these types of flora will provide the player with Organic when dug up, while a few may contain Research Samples or have a Research Item underneath or on the side.