Plants (Plants vs. Zombies)

A completed Suburban Almanac.

For other uses, see plants.

Plants are living organisms that belong to the Plantae kingdom. They obtain most of their energy from sunlight in a process called photosynthesis. However, not all plants absorb energy via photosynthesis. They are the protagonists of Plants vs. Zombies and the player's main defense against the undead assailants.

In the original Plants vs. Zombies, the Suburban Almanac lists a total of 49 playable plants, including Imitater. Each plant is unique, being useful at at least one stage of the game, with each special attribute existing to help counter certain types of zombies or area gimmicks. The plants also populate the Zen Garden, with its own exclusive plants.

All playable plants come from seed packets, which is how plants are selected and then planted in-game. Some of these packets are purchased from Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies for certain prices and different points of the game, and all the packets are sourced from the same company, Bloom & Doom Seed Co., as evidenced by the text on the top of each seed packet (only found in PC versions).

Unlocking plants

All of the plants in the Suburban Almanac are unlocked by playing through Adventure Mode, with upgrade plants and Imitater requiring money to purchase from Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies for their own individual prices. The rest are simply unlocked at the end of their respective levels, with the exception of Peashooter which is unlocked from the very beginning.

In the Adventure Mode, the final zombie to be defeated in a level where a plant is awarded for completion will drop that plant's seed packet. This packet will play the game's victory jingle when clicked, and transition to a screen announcing the plant's unlock, as well as short flavour text to help introduce the plant to the player. It is implied that Crazy Dave is the one who provides the player with these plants.

List of plants

Almanac

Plant	Image	Description	Unlocked	Health	Damage	Average Action Speed (seconds)	Sun Cost	Recharge
Peashooter		Peashooters are your first line of defense. They shoot peas at attacking zombies.	Default	300	20	1.425	100	Fast
Sunflower		Sunflowers are essential for you to produce extra sun. Try planting as many as you can!	Beat Level 1-1	300	N/A	24.25	50	Fast
Cherry Bomb		Cherry Bombs can blow up all zombies in an area. They have a short fuse so plant them near zombies.	Beat Level 1-2	Infinite	Infinite 1800	1.2	150	Very slow
Wall-nut		Wall-nuts have hard shells which you can use to protect your other plants.	Beat Level 1-3	4000	Varies	N/A	50	Slow
Potato Mine		Potato Mines pack a powerful punch, but they need a while to arm themselves. You should plant them ahead of zombies. They will explode on contact.	Beat Level 1-5	300 (unarmed) Infinite (armed)	1800	15 (arming)	25	Slow
Snow Pea		Snow Peas shoot frozen peas that damage and slow the enemy.	Beat Level 1-6	300	20	1.425	175 150 (VM) 100 (HW)	Fast
Chomper		Chompers can devour a zombie whole, but they are vulnerable while chewing.	Beat Level 1-7	300	Infinite 40	42 (chewing)	150	Fast
Repeater		Repeaters fire two peas at a time.	Beat Level 1-8	300	40	1.425	200 150 (VM)	Fast
Puff-shroom		Puff-shrooms are cheap, but can only fire a short distance.	Beat Level 1-10	300	20	1.425	0	Fast
Sun-shroom		Sun-shrooms give small sun at first and normal sun later.	Beat Level 2-1	300	N/A	24.25	25	Fast
Fume-shroom		Fume-shrooms shoot fumes that can pass through screen doors.	Beat Level 2-2	300	20	1.425	75	Fast
Grave Buster		Plant Grave Busters on graves to remove the graves.	Beat Level 2-3	300	N/A	4.5	75	Fast Very slow (VM)
Hypno-shroom		When eaten, Hypno-shrooms will make a zombie turn around and fight for you.	Beat Level 2-5	300	N/A	N/A	75	Slow
Scaredy-shroom		Scaredy-shrooms are long-ranged shooters that hide when enemies get near them.	Beat Level 2-6	300	20	1.425	25	Fast
Ice-shroom		Ice-shrooms temporarily immobilize all zombies on the screen.	Beat Level 2-7	300 (asleep)	20	1	75	Very slow
Doom-shroom		Doom-shrooms destroy everything in a large area and leave a crater that can't be planted on.	Beat Level 2-8	300 (asleep)	Infinite 1800	1	125	Very slow
Lily Pad		Lily pads let you plant non-aquatic plants on top of them.	Beat Level 2-10	300	N/A	N/A	25	Fast
Squash		Squashes will smash the first zombie that gets close to it.	Beat Level 3-1	300 Infinite (squashing)	1800	TBD (before squashing)	50 75 (VM)	Slow
Threepeater		Threepeaters shoot peas in three lanes.	Beat Level 3-2	300	20	1.425	325 200 (VM) 400 (HW)	Fast Very slow (VM)
Tangle Kelp		Tangle Kelp are aquatic plants that pull the first zombie that nears them underwater.	Beat Level 3-3	300 (tangling)	Infinite	N/A	25	Slow
Jalapeno		Jalapenos destroy an entire lane of zombies.	Beat Level 3-5	Infinite	Infinite 1800	1	125	Very slow
Spikeweed		Spikeweeds pop tires and hurt any zombies that step on them.	Beat Level 3-6	300 One smash	20	1	100	Fast
Torchwood		Torchwoods turn peas that pass through them into fireballs that deal twice as much damage.	Beat Level 3-7	300	N/A	N/A	175	Fast
Tall-nut		Tall-nuts are heavy-duty wall plants that can't be vaulted over.	Beat Level 3-8	8000	N/A	N/A	125	Slow
Sea-shroom		Sea-shrooms are aquatic plants that shoot short ranged spores.	Beat Level 3-10	300	20	1.425	0	Slow
Plantern		Planterns light up an area, letting you see through fog.	Beat Level 4-1	300	N/A	N/A	25	Slow
Cactus		Cactuses shoot spikes that can hit both ground and air targets.	Beat Level 4-2	300	20	1.425	125 100 (VM)	Fast
Blover		Blovers blow away all balloon zombies and fog.	Beat Level 4-3	Infinite	N/A	N/A	100	Fast
Split Pea		Split Peas shoot peas forward and backwards.	Beat Level 4-5	300	20 (forward) 40 (backward)	1.425	125	Fast Very slow (VM)
Starfruit		Starfruits shoot stars in 5 directions.	Beat Level 4-6	300	20	1.425	125 175 (VM)	Fast
Pumpkin		Pumpkins protect plants that are within their shells.	Beat Level 4-7	4000	N/A	N/A	125	Slow
Magnet-shroom		Magnet-shrooms remove helmets and other metal objects from zombies.	Beat Level 4-8	300	N/A	15	100	Fast
Cabbage-pult		Cabbage-pults hurl cabbages at the enemy.	Beat Level 4-10	300	40	2.925	100	Fast
Flower Pot		Flower Pots let you plant on the roof.	Beat Level 5-1	300	N/A	N/A	25	Fast
Kernel-pult		Kernel-pults fling corn kernels and butter at zombies.	Beat Level 5-2	300	20 (kernel) 40 (butter)	2.925	100	Fast
Coffee Bean		Use Coffee Beans to wake up sleeping mushrooms.	Beat Level 5-3	Infinite	N/A	1	75 25 (VM)	Fast
Garlic		Garlic diverts zombies into other lanes.	Beat Level 5-5	400	N/A	N/A	50 75 (VM)	Fast Very slow (VM)
Umbrella Leaf		Umbrella Leaves protect nearby plants from bungees and catapults.	Beat Level 5-6	300	N/A	N/A	100	Fast
Marigold		Marigolds give you silver and gold coins.	Beat Level 5-7	300	N/A	24.25	50	Slow
Melon-pult		Melon-pults do heavy damage to groups of zombies.	Beat Level 5-8	300	80 (target) 30 (splash)	2.925	300	Fast Very slow (VM)
Gatling Pea		Gatling Peas shoot four peas at a time, and are an upgrade of Repeater.	Beat Level 3-4 $5000	300	80	1.425	250 (+200)	Very slow
Twin Sunflower		Twin Sunflowers give twice as much sun as normal Sunflower, of which they are an upgrade.	Beat Level 3-4 $5000	300	N/A	24.25	150 (+50)	Very slow
Gloom-shroom		Gloom-shrooms release heavy fumes in an area around themselves, and are an upgrade of Fume-shroom.	Beat Level 4-4 $7500	300	20	0.2 (initial attack) 1.925 (follow-up attacks)	150 (+75)	Very slow
Cattail		Cattails can attack any lane and shoot down balloon zombies too, and are an upgrade of Lily Pad.	Beat Level 4-4 $10,000	300	40	1.425	225 (+25)	Very slow
Winter Melon		Winter Melons do heavy damage and slow groups of zombies, and are an upgrade of Melon-pult.	Beat Adventure Mode $10,000	300	80 (target) 30 (splash)	2.925	200 (+300)	Very slow
Gold Magnet		Gold Magnets collect coins and diamonds for you, and are an upgrade of Magnet-shroom.	Beat Level 5-1 $3000	300	N/A	10	50 (+100)	Very slow
Spikerock		Spikerocks pop multiple tires and damage zombies that walk over it, and are an upgrade of Spikeweed.	Beat Level 5-1 $7500	450 Nine smashes	40	1	125 (+100)	Very slow
Cob Cannon		Click on the Cob Cannon to launch deadly cobs of corn. An upgrade for two Kernel-pults.	Beat Adventure Mode $20,000	300	Infinite 1800	??? (first cob) 34.75 (every reload afterwards) 3.73 (landing)	500 (+100x2)	Very slow
Imitater		Imitaters let you use two of the same plant during a level!	Beat Adventure Mode $30,000	300 (transforming)	N/A	??? (transforming)	Same as imitated plant

Non-almanac

Plant	Image	Description	Health	Damage	Average Action Speed (seconds)	Sun Cost	Recharge
Explode-o-nut		Explode-o-nuts, used in the Wall-nut Bowling minigames, explode upon contact with zombies.	4000	Infinite 1800	N/A	0	Very slow
Giant Wall-nut		Giant Wall-nut can crush a row of zombies in Wall-nut Bowling 2, or have large amounts of health when used in Big Time.	4000 (Wall-nut Bowling 2) 8000 (Big Time)	Infinite (Wall-nut Bowling 2)	N/A	50 (Big Time)	Slow (Big Time)
Reverse Repeater		Reverse Repeaters fire two peas backwards at a time, in all Vasebreaker levels except for Vasebreaker and Hokey Pokey.	300	40	1.425	200	N/A
Giant Sunflower		Giant Sunflower, used in Big Time, produces one big sun that is worth 50 rather than 25.	600	N/A	24.25	50	Fast
Giant Marigold		Giant Marigold, used in Big Time, drops two silver or gold coins at once.	600	N/A	24.25	50	Slow

Zen Garden

Plant	Image	Description	Unlocked
Sprout		Sprouts are to be watered in the Zen Garden to grow into various possible plants.	Random gift drops or in the shop
Tree of Wisdom		When fed Tree Food in the Zen Garden, the Tree of Wisdom gives the player tips, tricks, and other miscellaneous dialogue.	Beating Adventure Mode; $10,000

Projectiles

To fight zombies, certain projectiles are fired from plants.

Note: The table below is about the damage of the projectiles. The numbers are the amount of peas equivalent in damage to the projectile, and a normal Zombie takes ten peas to kill.

Projectile shooter name	Damage	Projectile	Equivalent in peas
Peashooter, Repeater, Threepeater, Split Pea, Gatling Pea	Normal	Pea or fire pea after passing a Torchwood	1 (pea), 0.7 (fire peas' splash damage), 2 (fire pea)
Snow Pea	Normal, slows zombies	Frozen pea or pea after passing a Torchwood	1, halves zombies' speed (frozen pea)
Puff-shroom, Scaredy-shroom, Sea-shroom	Normal	Spore	1
Fume-shroom, Gloom-shroom	Normal, penetrates screen doors, ladders and newspapers	Fumes	1
Cactus, Cattail	Normal, pops balloons	Spike	1, pops balloons
Starfruit	Normal (for each star)	Star	1
Cabbage-pult	Normal	Cabbage	2
Kernel-pult	Light (kernel), normal (butter)	Kernel or butter	1 (kernel), 2 and stun (butter)
Melon-pult	Heavy, area of effect	Melon	4 (target), 1.5 (splash)
Winter Melon	Very heavy, area of effect, slows zombies	Frozen melon	4 (target), 1.5 (splash), all are slowed
Cob Cannon	Massive, area of effect	Corn cob	90 (three-by-three area)

• 

  Pea
• 

  Frozen pea
• 

  Spore/Fume
• 

  Fire pea
• 

  Spike
• 

  Star
• 

  Cabbage
• 

  Kernel
• 

  Butter
• 

  Melon
• 

  Frozen melon
• 

  Corn cob

Morticulturalist achievement

To unlock the Morticulturalist achievement, you must collect all 49 plants for the Suburban Almanac, which also includes the upgrade plants and Imitater in Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies. This therefore requires beating Adventure Mode once, and spending $98,000 for all the shop plants combined.

Gallery

Image

• 

  All Imitater plants
• 

  All plants on the lawn
• 

  Some plants from PopCap's website

Audio

Sound	Description
	Selecting a plant.
	A plant planted on the ground or roof.
	A plant planted on the ground or roof.
	A plant planted in the pool.
	A plant growing.

Trivia

• No plants start with the letter A, N, O, Q, V, X, Y, or Z.
• Mushrooms are classified as plants, even though they are actually fungi, which are an entirely different kingdom in the domain Eukaryote.
• All plants except Coffee Bean are vulnerable to theft or explosions.
• Most game commercials and the mini-game Slot Machine show Peashooters with the back two leaves of a Repeater.
• When the player plants on land or on a Flower Pot, there are two slightly different sound effects that can be made. Planting on water, however, will only produce one sound effect.
• The most plants the player can have on one square is five: Lily Pad or Flower Pot, a Fume-shroom, a Pumpkin, a Gloom-shroom, and a Coffee Bean.
• In the Zen Garden, aquatic plants do not need watering due to already being underwater.
• If Jack-in-the-Box Zombie explodes near the crushed sprite of defeated plants, they will disappear immediately upon the explosion.
  • It is also possible for a Bungee Zombie to steal a flattened sprite of a defeated plant, as well as being removed by a shovel (with the latter only applying to Pumpkin).

See also

• Gallery of plants
• Upgrade plants
• Plant transformations

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