Laganaphyllis simnovorii

The Laganaphyllis simnovorii (commonly known as the Cowplant or Cow Plant) is a bizarre, partly bovine form of vegetation that is large enough to swallow a Sim whole. It first appeared as the career reward for the Natural Science career in The Sims 2: University. A similar plant, simply called the "mutant plant", appeared in The Sims Bustin' Out for console, and may be a relative or precursor of the Cowplant. On December 22, 2011, the Cowplant was made available from The Sims 3 Store as premium content in the Killer Classics Set; it also returns in The Sims 4, where it becomes a plant that must be grown. The Cowplant was added to The Sims Social on Halloween 2011, where it was sold for 500 Social Points.

The Sims 2
This bizarre bovine vegetation is large enough to swallow your next-door neighbor whole. In fact, it WILL eat your neighbors. Your friends will be hard-pressed to resist the tantalizing vine-cake of the carniverous [sic] Laganaphyllis Simnovorii. After it has consumed some prey, milk it for sweet, rejuvenating nectar of life. A swig of this liquid refreshment will add precious days to a Sim's life and wash away any regret they may have over their visitor's fate.

Feeding
A Cowplant can be fed by clicking on it and selecting "Feed". When this is done, the Sim will take out a Leg 'O' Lamb, which costs §35, and throw it to the plant; sometimes playing with it or teasing it first. This action is not autonomous. Household Sims will ignore the plant unless it kills someone or the player directs them to interact with it.

Not being fed does not appear to have any negative effects on the Cowplant. However, it will attempt to capture and eat Sims if not fed every 12 Sim hours. The Cowplant will stick out its tongue, which contains a slice of cake, luring an unwary Sim close to the plant. It then devours the Sim, who dies immediately. Unusually, the Grim Reaper does not appear; the Cowplant simply spits out the grave. The Sim's ghost will be green.

Controllable Sims can be ordered to "Grab Cake", and will die if not stopped. However, the Cowplant will not eat Sims who stink due to low hygiene, even if they were told to take the cake. Ungreeted walkbys will ignore the plant, as will most service NPCs who are on the job. However, service NPCs such as nannies who have idle time during their work day may be drawn to the Cowplant during that idle time. Since a locked gate may not stop an NPC such as a nanny, it may be a good idea to feed the Cowplant before they arrive.

Milking
After a Cowplant has its lunch (a Sim), members of the owner's household can milk the plant. The "milk" is actually a life-extending drink similar to the Elixir of Life, extending the Sim's lifespan by five days. Unlike the Elixir of Life, children can drink it. Drinking the "milk" is sometimes referred to as drinking that Sim, and doing it gives the drinker a special memory. Sims may have a want to "drink" a certain Sim that they are unhappy with.

Toddlers cannot interact with the Cowplant. Children cannot take the vine-cake that the Cowplant offers, but may be able to play with it and milk it.

The Sims 3


Our fan favorite Laganaphyllis Simnovorii returns, as diabolically fun as you remember and with new gameplay you'll never forget! A swig of the milk of the Cow Plant adds days to your Sims' lives and washes away any regret you may have at the fate of the unsuspecting Sim from whom its created. Feed it, pet it, play with it, give it a treat, praise it and scold it to create a loving pet, or a ruthless henchman, the choice is yours, and the fate of your friends and neighbors is yours too.

In The Sims 3, the Laganaphyllis Simnovorii can be bought as a premium content item as part of the Killer Classics set from The Sims 3 Store for 600 SimPoints. In-game, the plant costs 475 simoleons.

When feeding the plant, Sims give it a swordfish, which, unlike the Leg O' Lamb in The Sims 2: University, doesn't cost anything. The plant will display its cake when it has not been fed for 3 days, and Sims will be instantly drawn to it. Unlike The Sims 2: University, the Cowplant will die if it is not fed for 7 days.

Once eaten, a Sim will die, although the plant will often spit the Sim back out if they have bad hygiene, or has the Good, Lucky, Unlucky, Brave or Daredevil traits. The Cowplant will not eat babies, toddlers, children or imaginary friends that are turned real, but will eat teenagers and older. If the Sim does die, their ghost will be purple, as if they had starved. Unlike The Sims 2: University, the Grim Reaper will always come for these deaths. After a Cowplant has eaten a Sim, other Sims can choose to praise or scold it. Also, they can milk it, which will reset them to day one of their current life stage, and will give them the "Divine Meal" moodlet with +75 mood for 7 days. If the Cowplant is not fed for a week, it will die by starvation and Sims can clean it up. With Showtime, Sims can choose to throw a mini Cowplant at the stage; this will cost §475.

If Supernatural is installed, the cowplant may eat Bonehilda, but she will usually be spat out afterwards. Sometimes she may become a ghost.

As in The Sims 2, toddlers cannot interact with the Cowplant, while children are able to play with it and milk it.

The Sims 4
This Galactic marvel makes an excellent source of food, cuddles and lifelong friendship. Become the envy of the Neighborhood! Just remember to feed it.

The Cowplant returns in the fourth installment of the series with some changes. Rather than being unlocked as a career reward or purchased as an item, the Cowplant is now obtained by collecting a rare berry, which can be planted in a garden. Also, the Cowplant no longer appears in a pot, unless it's placed indoors.

Growth state
Cowplants in The Sims 4 now have three different growth states, and can die.
 * Sprout stage - When a Sim plants a Cowplant Berry, there are tiny horns appearing through the soil. Planting a Cowplant Berry does not require any Gardening skill.
 * Baby stage - After a few days, a tiny Cowplant is seen. When the Cowplant is in this stage, only basic plant interactions are available.
 * Mature stage - In this stage, the Cowplant is fully matured. Sims can feed it, play with it, or pet it. If a Cowplant successfully devours a Sim, other Sims can milk the Cowplant for a special potion.
 * Death - Twelve Sim hours after a Cowplant shows its cake tongue, and is not fed, it will die, A dead Cowplant has a dead stem with a hanging Cowplant skull. Cowplants cannot be saved after this stage.

Feeding
As in previous games, Sims feed the Cowplant meat, and a hungry Cowplant uses a cake to attract Sims so it can eat them. A Cowplant can only be fed when its tongue sticks out and the cake is visible.

When a Sim is eaten for the first time, the Cowplant will spit them out, and they will receive a Drained moodlet, saying that the Sim "feels like an emotionless shell." This negative moodlet will last two days. If a Sim with this moodlet attempts to eat the cake, the Cowplant will devour them. When this happens, the Grim Reaper will come and confront the Cowplant before checking his list. A gravestone of the dead Sim will appear, and the Reaper will then leave. The ghost of a Sim eaten by the Cowplant will make plants grow when happy but kill them when in a bad mood.

When a Sim is devoured, a notification will pop up.

"(Sim name) is being devoured by a cow plant! Will he/she make it out alive?!"

Milking
As in previous games, a Cowplant that has successfully devoured a Sim can be milked. Milking a Cowplant yields a drink called "Essence of Life", which adds extra days to the Sim's life and instantly makes them happy.

Sims who survive being eaten by the Cowplant can milk it and receive a potion which will give them the emotions they had before being eaten. The name of the potion will be "(Sim name)'s potion of (emotion that Sim was in)"

Dancing
Cowplants will dance autonomously if a stereo is placed near them, even if the stereo is not switched on. However, this feature does not work with "The Landlord Whisperer" stereo.

Other references
The final class in the Biology major in The Sims 2: University is entitled "Senior Thesis: The Laganaphyllis Simnovorii".

In The Sims 3, the Science career's 5th level is "Carnivorous Plant Tender". There is also a little stone statue of a Cowplant in the Goth Manor.

If The Sims 2: Bon Voyage is installed, one of the wall hangings is an ancient tablet with a picture of a Cowplant being fed by ancient people. The description tells about how the Cowplant was treated in the old times.

In The Sims 4, one of the Monsters a child can draw is a Cowplant eating a Sim.

In The Sims FreePlay, a Cowplant can appear if gardening goes bad. They will eat a sim (unless fought back), but will always spit it out. A Cowplant with a top hat can be seen in the Garden Wheel.

Trivia

 * The Cowplant is reminiscent of Audrey II, the plant in the 1986 comedy horror musical film Little Shop of Horrors, starring Rick Moranis, Steve Martin, and Levi Stubbs. People on YouTube use the plant for spoofs of the film.
 * In terms of color, the Cowplant also resembles the Tomeato (A crossbreed of the tomato plant and a cow, which grew into a square shaped fruit) from The Dilbert Animated series. However, the Tomeato was designed as a harvestable crop which was easy to stack due to its rectangular shape, while the Laganaphyllis Simnovorii is a carnivorous plant.
 * In The Sims 2: University and The Sims 3, the Cowplant's scientific name (Laganaphyllis Simnovorii) is incorrectly capitalized; rules of binomial nomenclature state that only the first name should be capitalized, not the second. Thus, the correct name for the plant would be Laganaphyllis simnovorii.
 * The genus name is derived from the words lagana (Latin for cake) and phyllis (Greek for foliage), while the species name means 'Sim eater'.
 * In The Sims 3, sometimes the Grim Reaper will milk the Cowplant.
 * In The Sims 3, the players can watch a Cowplant eating a florist in Got Garden? channel on TV.
 * Death by Cowplant is recognized as a unique death in The Sims 4. In The Sims 2, a random death was chosen, while The Sims 3 depicted it as a death from starvation.

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