Eyeball Plant - Doll's Eyes

Well, this wildlife & nature blog has pretty much contained posts that have been strictly related to non-plant specimens albeit that is about to change as the subjects become more diverse along the way...

What a weird plant, eh? I found this bizarre vegetation when doing an online search about Halloween plants, spooky plants, and so on, several months ago. I was just in the mood for some freaky foliage during that time, and I ended up running into several different types that I never seen before. For this post, I decided to go with the one called "Doll's Eyes." This eyeball plant is a perennial that usually grows a couple feet tall and 3 feet wide.

When looking at this plant, what appears to be eyeballs is actually its fruit/berries. These things ripen during the summer and they last until frost hits.
The Doll's Eyes are poisonous to humans, though, as the eyeball and the plant itself is not for our consumption by any means. I don't know why you would think the eyeball plant looks like something to eat anyway, but if you were to ingest it, you could end up having a heart attack and die - since this type of poison supposed to affect your heart muscle, as well. Yeah, if you did grab a handful of these rudely staring berries and shove them into your mouth, I guess the plant would then simply lay back and "watch" you die as an end result? Now wouldn't that be creepy in a nefarious way? Ha!

Now, on the other hand, if you were a bird, you could peck the eyes right out, as they are immune to this particular plant. Birds are cool like that since they are one of nature's best seed spreaders. They do the same thing with hot peppers, for example. When it comes to being immune to harsh edibles and spreading seeds, birds are impeccable albeit they sure peck a whole hell of a lot; ha! Well, I just thought I'd share these tidbits with you all since this is not a common plant that you see every day, well, unless it grows close to where you live, of course. If I did live at a place that was covered in these plants, I'm not exactly sure what I would do.  I really like scenic trees, shrubs, and foliage, but I don't really like things with uninhibited staring problems, either. Hmm...  Such a biological quagmire at hand...

Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actaea_pachypoda

---End of Post "Eyeball Plant - Doll's Eyes"