Creeping Chrysanthemum

Creeping Chrysanthemum
Appears in	Pikmin 2
Scientific name	Taraxacum rovinia
Family	Chrysanthemum
Areas	Awakening Wood, Wistful Wild
Caves	Snagret Hole, Cavern of Chaos, Hole of Heroes
Challenge Mode stages	None
2-Player Battle stages	None
Attacks	Eats Pikmin

The Creeping Chrysanthemum is an enemy in Pikmin 2. When dormant, it greatly resembles the large yellow flowers known as the Margaret used for level scenery. It can be told apart from the normal flowers, as it has one less flower, no leaves on the "stem", and the large flowers have the Chrysanthemum's eyes visible.

When the Pikmin or the pilots get close, it will spring out of the ground, revealing its root-arms, its bulbous body, and the center flower becomes a gigantic mouth. It moves moderately slowly, and will return to its original spot if left alone for a while. It replants itself by standing above the spot where it originally came from and sucking itself into the ground until only the 'flowers' remain. This enemy is not able to be petrified while it is in the ground.

It is possible that their appearance is based on Piranha Plants.

The Chrysanthemum is also a collectible trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Notes

Olimar's notes

“Like Pikmin, the creeping chrysanthemum is a member of a group of creatures with ambulatory root structures. This creature is known as a "mimic," but because it is actually a form of plant, this label is not entirely accurate. For unknown reasons, the creeping chrysanthemum's mimicry does not fool Pikmin, perhaps because they share a similar heritage. It relies on preying upon other creatures to provide sustenance, so it has no need of leaves for photosynthesis. Generally speaking, the role of plants within an ecosystem is as a producer species, and thus plants are generally found at the bottom of the food pyramid. However, on this strange planet the line between producer plants and consumer plants is blurred.”

Louie's notes

“When thinly sliced, this predator's sizeable bulb makes a sumptuous pizza topping.”

Killing Strategy

File:Normal 23 Pikmin2 GCN screen12.jpg

A Creeping Chrysanthemum being attacked.

Pikmin

Its large mouth will pick up the Pikmin to eat them, but if it fails to capture any, it will slam its head into its body and fall to the ground, struggling to get back up. This presents an opportunity for the player to attack the Chrysanthemum. Its weak point is its body, which can be hit at all times. It is generally weak against medium-sized groups of Pikmin. The best way to defeat it is to simply swarm it, being careful not to let it eat any Pikmin. Another way is to daze it with Purple Pikmin then swarm to kill it. Yet another way is to quickly dart forward and attack, and when it tries to eat Pikmin, retreat. It will hit itself, knocking itself down. Use Purple Pikmin to quickly kill it when it is struggling to regain balance. Another good method of defeating it is to have one captain dismissed without any Pikmin and the other captain close by with Pikmin. Then, have the captain without any Pikmin wake up the creature and switch captains as soon as it wakes up and start swarming or throwing Pikmin at the beast until it's dead.

Captains

After waking it, attack it until it does its recoil move, avoid it, then attack again. It's best to attack the Chrysanthemum from behind to minimize risk to the attacking captain. Alternatively, allowing the Chrysanthemum to bite and stun itself will allow for some extra punching time at the cost of increased risk to the captain.

Trivia

• The Creeping Crysanthemum shares a genus name with the Dandelion even though they are in separate families; in real life, this is impossible, as different species cannot be in the same genus and different families.
• This enemy having a red top and a big green belly, he resembles Petey Piranha from the Mario series, especially when filled with water in Super Mario Sunshine.