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, some Seeds, or reveal a Research Item buried underneath.

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.

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  The old appearance of popcoral

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  A colony of popcoral, along with a seed

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.

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  A planted Wheezeweed

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.

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  A planted Spinelily

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. Domestic Lashleafs will rotate 90 degrees counter clockwise when they are finished growing.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Boomalloons, Volatile Cataplants and Volatile Attacti produce explosions, which can be used to break open EXO Caches without Dynamite.

Daggeroot

Daggeroot are a white plant with red spots, found mostly on Desolo, on the surface of Atrox and in the mantle layer of Sylva, 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 2 hits. This is the only hazardous plant to be in its original form since before the 1.0 update, and was also the only plant that could be planted before that update

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  A Daggeroot colony

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. They function similarly to the "acid pot" flora that existed before Patch 1.0.

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  A Normal Hissbine

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. Boomalloons can be detonated safely simply by approaching them slowly, as their trigger radius is bigger than their blast radius.

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  An undisturbed Boomalloon

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 or deflect off slopes, rendering the player safe from 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.

Volatile Cataplants can be tricked into destroying themselves.

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  An inactive Noxious Cataplant

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.

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  An inactive Volatile Attactus

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.

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  An undisturbed Elegant Spewflower

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  An Elegant Spewflower spewing poison

Lashvine

Lashvines are flora that spawn on the surface of Atrox, exclusively in rings surrounding a Cauldrangea. These were added to the game in the BOO Update, and may be seasonal to Halloween. They attack the player similarly to Thistlewhip, however they hurt more and knock the player back considerably. Paired with the Attacti that also spawn, they can be very deadly if the player is not careful.

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  A Lashvine on Atrox

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.

Mutant Flora

Most offensive flora will occasionally drop Seeds that allow the player to grow mutant versions of the flora that will not attack the player. The red markings typically found on hazardous flora are replaced with a light blue.

Other Flora

Aside from hazardous flora there are types of flora that can be found almost anywhere. Most of these plants will provide the player with Organic when dug up, although others generate Research Samples. In this case, they do not provide organic but can reveal a research item if dug up. If one is careful, they can they can dig up enough ground around the research item to pick it up without destroying the plant.