01-05-2025
Woman Goes on Walk, Unprepared for What She Finds by Lake: 'Horror Movie'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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A post about a woman who came across a strange plant with a "meat-like texture" has gone viral on Reddit.
Images of the peculiar plant were shared in a post on Reddit shared by Grace (u/applementionpies). The post has amassed 19,000 upvotes since it was shared on April 21. The pictures show a thick, skin-toned plant stalk dotted by giant dark circular spots laying on a patch of grass.
The post was titled: "Seriously WHAT is this." The caption notes: "Found this thing (?)...been wondering since wtf [what the f***] it is since. Had a very strange smell and was almost meat-like in texture."
Grace, who did not share her last name, told Newsweek that she came across the plant on the shore of Lake Lida in Minnesota while visiting her friend's cabin there among a group of people aged from 22 to 25.
"It was actually May 2022, so the warm weather was just starting to come in. Since it was the beginning of the season, there was debris on the shore that washed up from the frozen months. This was one of them," she said.
Grace said the strange sighting "haunted me for 2.5 years" in a later comment.
An image of a water lily root found on the shore of a lake in Minnesota, shared in a viral post on Reddit.
An image of a water lily root found on the shore of a lake in Minnesota, shared in a viral post on Reddit.
u/applementionpies on Reddit
The mysterious plant is a water lily root, food scientist Bryan Quoc Le told Newsweek, noting that "it appears that the water lily root has gone through some decay and browning."
The food scientist, who is the author 150 Food Science Questions Answered: Cook Smarter, Cook Better and founder of Mendocino Food Consulting, said the water lily root can be consumed.
He explained: "These roots are edible and often used in soups or eaten baked, but need to be boiled first to ensure the starches have gelatinized. They're actually quite high in starch, much like a potato or a yam. Most of the water lily is in fact edible."
Michael Clarke is a landscape architect and horticulturalist who is the founder of Yardwork, an online plant and tree nursery and landscaping platform. He told Newsweek: "Water lilies are aquatic plants found in freshwater environments such as ponds, lakes, and slow-moving streams. Their roots grow from rhizomes, which are thick, horizontal underground stems."
Clarke explained that rhizomes are buried in muddy soils at the bottom of the water and have fibrous roots that extend into the soil to absorb nutrients and water. The roots stabilize the plant as well as the soil, helping to reduce erosion.
"Rhizomes also serve as storage organs for starch and other nutrients, helping the plant survive through dormant periods or unfavorable conditions," Clarke noted.
Water lilies have a long history in traditional medicine where all of their parts are used, explains the book Dietary Interventions in Liver Disease, published in 2019.
Crushed and mixed with wine, the root of water lilies was used by monks and nuns for hundreds of years as an anaphrodisiac. In addition to its use as "a painkiller, anti-inflammatory, astringent, cardiotonic, demulcent, with sedative and calming effects upon the nervous system," the water lily root can also be used to "insomnia, anxiety, and similar disorders," according to the book.
The dried roots and rhizomes of white water lilies have also been used as oral treatments for gastrointestinal, genital and bronchial conditions. The leaves and roots have been used externally to various dermatological conditions, the book explains.
'Something Out of a Horror Movie'
Grace told Newsweek that the water lily root "smelled rotted and moldy."
She said: "The stench wasn't too pronounced until we poked it with a stick, then it almost started wafting. The outside—with the dots—was hard like a shell, where the inside was softer, almost like the fatty part of steak or pork."
Grace knew about water lilies but not so much about their roots. She said: "The group I was with and I have wondered about it for the past two years and randomly would bring it up as a joke. I've shown lots of people and everyone was just disgusted, no one had any context as to what it is until I brought it to Reddit."
Redditors were spooked and grossed out by the unusual plant sighting in the viral post.
U/Previous-Wasabi-4907 said: "This looks like something out of a horror movie! I can't be the only one who sees the 'head' and 'face'?!"
U/UarNotMe wrote: "I was already grossed out by me feel nauseous looking at it."
U/BabyOnTheStairs simply said it is a "water lily root" and u/truthhurts2222222 said: "I'm inclined to agree [it's a] water lily root."
U/moldylindsey was amazed, noting: "That's wild, because I've been around water lilies my whole life, and I guess I've never seen the root."
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