20 Funny Plant Names That Make You Laugh

Imagine walking into a plant nursery and asking to buy a pregnant onion. Over the centuries, gardeners have come up with quite a few strange labels for plants. So which names are the funniest?

The best-known funny plant names are naked lady, monkey puzzle tree, pregnant onion, and bunny ears cactus. When a label confuses you, the Botan app lets you browse plants with names and pictures. Below, you will find 20 species and the story behind each name.

The 20 Plants with Funny Names

• Naked lady
• Bunny ears cactus
• Monkey puzzle tree
• Hot lips
• Dutchman’s pipe
• Pregnant onion
• Lipstick plant
• Mother-in-law’s tongue
• Kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate
• Hens and chicks
• Baby toes
• Donkey’s tail
• Bat flower
• Old man cactus
• Corpse flower
• Living stones
• Touch-me-not
• Ponytail palm
• Kangaroo paw
• Dumb cane

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1. Naked Lady (Amaryllis belladonna)

This South African bulb blooms on a bare stalk in late summer. Its leaves die back months earlier and leave the pink flowers to stand alone. That bare look explains the cheeky name. The species name belladonna means beautiful lady in Italian. 

Southern Hemisphere gardeners also call Amaryllis belladonna March lily because it blooms around that month. Keep the toxic bulbs away from pets.

2. Bunny Ears Cactus (Opuntia microdasys)

Picture two fuzzy ears poking out of a pot. That is the bunny ears cactus, a Mexican native with flat and oval pads. Each pair of pads resembles a rabbit’s head. 

The soft-looking dots are not fur. They are clusters of tiny barbed bristles called glochids. These bristles lodge in the skin and are hard to remove.

3. Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria araucana)

Few funny plant names come with a story as good as this one. A visitor to a Cornish garden in the 1800s reportedly said that climbing the tree would puzzle a monkey — the remark gave the tree its name. 

The tree itself comes from Chile and Argentina. Stiff and scaly leaves of the monkey puzzle tree overlap like armor, and some trees live for over a thousand years.

4. Hot Lips (Psychotria elata)

Two plump red bracts curve around tiny white flowers on this tropical shrub. From a distance, they look like a pair of puckered lips. Gardeners call it hot lips — a wacky name that suits it quite well.  Sellers sometimes use the nickname hooker’s lips. 

It grows wild in the rainforests of Central and South America. Hot lips need steady warmth and high humidity; however, cold drafts quickly damage its leaves.

5. Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia macrophylla)

Curved like an old smoking pipe, the flowers of Aristolochia macrophylla are easy to recognize. The name comes from that shape.

Dutchman’s pipe grows wild in the eastern United States, and its big heart-shaped leaves feed the caterpillars of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly. Small flies pollinate the odd-looking blooms.

6. Pregnant Onion (Albuca bracteata)

Weird plant names rarely get stranger than this one. The bulb grows half above the soil, and small bulblets form on its surface. Swollen bulbs carrying bulblets look pregnant, hence the ridiculous name.

Pregnant onion comes from South Africa, and botanists once filed it under the name Ornithogalum caudatum. Its long curly leaves can trail over the pot’s edge.

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7. Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthus radicans)

Each red flower emerges from a dark maroon calyx and resembles a lipstick being pulled from its tube — this resemblance gave the plant its name. In the wild, this vine grows on the branches of trees in Southeast Asia. 

Indoors, it thrives in hanging planters. Bright indirect light encourages more profuse flowering. The top layer of soil should be allowed to dry out slightly between waterings. Trailing stems of Aeschynanthus radicans can reach lengths of 2 feet or more.

8. Mother-in-Law’s Tongue (Dracaena trifasciata)

Sharp and upright leaves give this plant a name with attitude. The joke compares the pointed leaves to a sharp mother-in-law’s tongue. It is also sold as Snake plant. Botanists later moved it from the genus Sansevieria into Dracaena. 

It tolerates low light levels and missed waterings well. That toughness makes it a frequent choice in plant recommendations for beginners. Some varieties reach more than three feet in height.

9. Kiss-Me-Over-the-Garden-Gate (Persicaria orientalis)

Among cool plant names, this one wins on sheer length. The plant can reach six feet tall and features beautiful drooping pink tassels. One popular explanation says couples once kissed over the tall blooms above the garden gate but nobody has confirmed that story. 

Prince’s feather is another common name. This native of Asia grows as an annual in most gardens.

10. Hens and Chicks (Sempervivum tectorum)

A large mother rosette sits in the center, surrounded by smaller offsets. Gardeners saw a hen guarding her chicks in that pattern. The offsets grow on short stems and root nearby. This species handles winter frost well and also tolerates poor soil and dry spells. 

The species name Sempervivum tectorum means “of roofs.” People in Europe once grew it on rooftops, believing it protected against lightning.

11. Baby Toes (Fenestraria rhopalophylla)

Plump and club-shaped leaves of Fenestraria rhopalophylla stand upright like a row of tiny toes. This succulent grows in the deserts of Namibia and South Africa. Most of each leaf stays buried in sand. 

The translucent tip works as a small window, letting light reach the leaf’s interior. The genus name Fenestraria comes from the Latin word for window. Baby toes needs sharp-draining soil and very little water.

12. Donkey’s Tail (Sedum morganianum)

Donkey’s tail ranks high among unusual plant names. Its thick trailing stems are covered in plump blue-green leaves, much like a braided tail. 

The plant is also called burro’s tail. It is believed to come from southern Mexico. Stems can hang three feet or even longer, and the leaves detach at the slightest touch.

13. Bat Flower (Tacca chantrieri)

Dark purple-black bracts spread like wings above a curtain of long dangling whiskers. The wings explain the name bat flower. Other common names include devil flower and cat’s whiskers. 

This Southeast Asian plant thrives in warm, humid shade under tall trees. The small, true flowers cluster at the center, partly hidden by the bracts.

14. Old Man Cactus (Cephalocereus senilis)

A shaggy white beard covers this Mexican cactus from top to bottom. The long hairs shade the stem and help it cope with strong sun. 

They also give the plant a wise and elderly look. The species name Cephalocereus senilis refers to old age in Latin. In its habitat, it can grow more than 30 feet tall.

15. Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum)

When it blooms, it releases a bizarre smell of rotting meat. This is why the corpse flower earns its spot among unique plant names. 

That odor lures pollinating beetles and flies. The plant is native to Sumatra in Indonesia. A bloom can top eight feet in height, and the flower lasts only 1-2 days.

16. Living Stones (Lithops spp.)

According to many plant identification guides, these plants pass for pebbles at first glance. The peculiar camouflage helps them avoid hungry animals in dry parts of southern Africa. 

Each plant is a pair of fused, swollen leaves. The genus name Lithops comes from Greek words meaning stone and face. 

17. Touch-Me-Not (Mimosa pudica)

A light touch makes the leaflets fold shut within seconds. The movement earned the names touch-me-not, sensitive plant, and shy plant. 

Even the species name, pudica, means bashful. Quick shifts in water pressure inside tiny leaf joints cause the folding. On a windowsill, it makes a quirky houseplant.

18. Ponytail Palm (Beaucarnea recurvata)

Some funny plant names are simply literal. Long curly leaves sprout from the top of a swollen trunk, much like a ponytail. The bulbous base stores water for dry periods. Despite the name, it is not a true palm — it's one of the representatives of the asparagus family. 

The plant grows wild in southeastern Mexico. Indoors, the ponytail palm grows slowly and forgives missed waterings.

19. Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii)

Fuzzy and tube-shaped flowers curl like the paw of a kangaroo. The plants come from southwestern Australia. Fine velvety hairs coat the blooms in red, yellow, orange, or green. Honeyeater birds pollinate them in the wild. 

The red and green kangaroo paw is the floral emblem of Western Australia. Kangaroo paws prefer full sun and well-drained soil, and florists also sell the long stems as cut flowers.

20. Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia seguine)

Chewing a leaf of Dieffenbachia seguine can leave your mouth swollen and sore. The resulting trouble speaking earned it the name dumb cane. The ridiculous name has a painful origin. Needle-like crystals of calcium oxalate cause the irritation. 

Its large and speckled leaves suit rooms with bright indirect light. The sap can also irritate skin and eyes, so wear gloves when you prune it.