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Misplaced Vegetation: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.MisplacedVegetation 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.MisplacedVegetation, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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This can be easily justified since many travelers have introduced plants from elsewhere if the new area's climate can accommodate them. For example, palm trees do not naturally grow in the western US (Except in Southern California and southwest Arizona), and [[All Deserts Have Cacti|cacti]] grow ''only'' in the US and Mexico unless taken abroad. Also, if a work of fiction is set somewhere that's ''[[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|like]]'' somewhere in the ancient or medieval world but isn't specifically there, they have an out for including things like potatoes or any other real-life plant: it's not set in the real world. Plant misplacement is especially present in works taking place in rainforests since it's hard to search for the tree species growing in these locations even with the help of the Internet. Not only there are a lot of different tree species unknown to the public, but different rainforests have different trees.
See also: [[All Deserts Have Cacti]]. May occasionally be the result of [[
{{examples
== Advertising ==
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== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Tintin (Comic Book)]] in the Congo'' had rubber trees, native to South America, growing wild in Africa. Could possibly be [[Fan Wank|justified post-hoc]] if they're not not truly wild, but simply feral. There are commercial rubber plantations in Africa.
== Film ==
* ''[[The
* [[Austin Powers]] lampshades this in ''The Spy Who Shagged Me''. While supposedly driving along an English country road which looks remarkably like one in California, he remarks to camera: "You know what's remarkable? Is how much England looks in no way like Southern California."
* [[Justified Trope|Justified]] and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in ''[[Jurassic Park]]'', where the incongruous flora is mentioned as being potentially damaging to the megafauna, but was added to the park anyway because it's pretty. There are other examples pointed out by the one lady scientist, who first identifies an extinct plant by the leaves shortly after arriving on the island. She then points out, as one of the signs that the whole endeavor is negligent and careless, that some of the decorative plants in the visitor's center are toxic to humans. She then diagnoses the digestive problems of a triceratops by noting that there are toxic berries growing in the same place it would scoop up gizzard stones.
** The sick triceratops was in the film but it's illness is never explained (possibly due to time constraints) making the whole thing more or less a [[What Happened to The Mouse?]] scene. It is however, fully explained in the original book.
* Disney's ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney)|The Jungle Book]]'', if you look very closely during the Elephant Patrol's first appearance in the film, you can actually see acacia trees in the background. Acacias grow in very dry deserts and scrubland, not jungles.
** In the same movie, Baloo explains to Mowgli in a song how to pick the fruit of the prickly pear... which is a species of cactus from the arid zones of America.
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* And in Florida (As well as Lake Victoria in Africa), Water Hyacinths from South America. The literally ''clog'' the lakes up. The Florida State government, for example, literally said, "Do what you want - Get ''rid'' of this!" in legalese.
* Almost as bad in the North as Kudzu is in the South, English Ivy has gone from picturesque ornamental plant to major pest.
* Tamarisk, aka Salt Cedar, is a drought hardy plant that was brought to some areas of the US (Colorado and Utah have loads of this, particularly the Colorado river system) but is a majorly invasive species. You see, Tamarisk is originally from the Kazakh steppes not far from Russia. Eastern Colorado has a very similar climate to the Tamarisk's natural habitat, but has none of the natural counters to it. Thus this tree spreads like weeds all over the southwest's precious little water resources. It's difficult to kill off (you can't burn them out, the roots survive to grow again), they can literally (and in several places DO) suck a river dry, they weed out the native trees and plants and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|they're ugly to boot!]] The Colorado state and local governments have been waging a war against these plants for over 10 years and have yet to make significant progress against them. The current strategy employed is introducing ANOTHER species: The Tamarisk Leaf Beetle, Diorhabda elongata, which is released en mass every year to go out and eat the tamarisk.
* Russian Olive is also similar in Colorado; as it's actually outlawed. The Tree of Heaven is also considered a noxious weed, and it literally can grow ''anywhere''. (Even out of a crack in the road.)
* Another huge problem in the western US? Grass. Namely cheatgrass and several other species of brome. Originally introduced as feed, it went wild and took over the landscape, obliterating all native grasses in their path. Not only that, but because they aren't well adapted to dry environments, they're a huge fire hazard. Every year there are thousands of wildfires spread and fueled by these grasses.
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