Pole Plant

Pole Plants are ambush predators that disguise themselves as regular poles in an attempt to lure creatures into grabbing them.

Appearance
Pole Plants are plantlike organisms consisting of a long, flexible stalk and multiple leaf-like appendages. Black in coloration and accented with bright red, these appendages flare outwards near the base of the stalk, decrease in length towards the center, and flare outwards and upwards towards the end, losing their red coloration.

While the Pole Plant is hidden, it wraps its leaves around its stalk and stands straight out of the ground, closely resembling a regular pole. The only qualities which visually differentiate a regular pole and a Pole Plant are the incredibly slight reddish tinge characteristic to the Pole Plant, and the absence of the 'rust spots' which are usually found on regular poles, meaning that, to the trained eye, Pole Plants are unusually smooth and "clean".

Combat
If a piece of is thrown at a Pole Plant, it enters an active state and writhes around in annoyance. When in an active state, it attempts to grab any nearby creatures. Activating a Pole Plant can be an effective way to get away from pursuing predators, such as, as most creatures are afraid of the Pole Plant. If the player is grabbed, hitting the Pole Plant with Rubbish or a Spear causes it to let go and allows the player to escape.

Hitting a Pole Plant with a causes it to writhe around in pain. In this panicked state, it cannot grab the player, allowing them to retrieve their Spear before the Pole Plant retreats underground.

Detection
It is possible to distinguish Pole Plants from regular poles, as Pole Plants are much smoother than poles, and have a reddish tint. Another way to spot Pole Plants is to open up the map view; as the map only shows solid geometry, 'poles' which are not visible on the map are always hidden Pole Plants instead. Additionally, Pole Plants can be detected by the yellow, indicating the Pole Plant's location by showing the flashing red and yellow 'predator' warning symbol. Threat music also plays if a Pole Plant is in the room.

Hiding
While awaiting prey, the Pole Plant conceals itself as a regular pole, staying mostly still. Sometimes, as a creature walks past a Pole Plant, a leaf or two may pop out. They may even occasionally pulse their leaves outwards, revealing telltale flashes of red. If a creature stands at the base of a Pole Plant in its dormant state for too long, it may attempt to grab it and pull it down into its den.

Grabbing


When a creature grabs onto a Pole Plant, the Pole Plant reveals its true form, latches onto the creature tightly with its appendages, and proceeds to pull the creature down into its den to be eaten. If the creature manages to escape, the Pole Plant attempts to follow its movement in an attempt to recapture it.

The pull of a Pole Plant is strong enough to grab even creatures as strong as the.

Relationships

 * -|Vanilla=


 * -|Downpour=

Trivia

 * If the player grabs a Pole Plant as it dies, they are dragged into its den and become softlocked until the rain comes.
 * Pole Plants cannot be tranquilized by Dart Maggots.
 * Pole Plants tend to face upwards, but can also be found facing sideways (in ) and downwards (in ). These variants of Pole Plants are much more difficult to escape when activated due to not having level geometry near them to aid evasion and combat.
 * Certain Pole Plants can lineage into after being killed enough times. This can cause certain routes to become much more difficult, as Monster Kelp tend to be much harder to evade than Pole Plants. However, Monster Kelp may alternatively cause the surrounding area to be safer, as they actively attack other creatures whereas Pole Plants only attack when provoked.
 * The insects released by do not attempt to attach to Pole Plants. In addition, Pole Plants do not block thrown beehives.
 * Even as they die, Pole Plants can sometimes grab on to creatures that are too close and pull them in.
 * Like, Pole Plants grab items; however, due to their poorer mobility, observing this behavior almost always requires the active intervention of Slugcat. Also like Monster Kelp, only the tip of the creature can grab things, but unlike Monster Kelp, Pole Plants are disinclined to attempt to move if not actively grabbing prey. Unlike Monster Kelp, Pole Plants do not take non-prey items they have grabbed to their den.