Meat Bulb (Lureplant)

Meat Bulb=

Eyeplant=

"Finally! A useful vegetable!"

- Wigfrid

The Meat Bulb, also more commonly known as the Lureplant, is a hostile plant which is so named for its behavior of dangling meat to attract prey. Like Krampus, The Lureplant has its own inventory, which is filled with the items its Eyeplants (see below) have consumed but not yet digested. It has the capability of consuming and digesting just about anything that can fit in the player's inventory. The default digestion time for an item consumed by a Lureplant is 20 seconds. This makes it hard and inefficient to use the Lureplant to collect/farm common items, and makes it a hazard if any rare items are consumed.

When it is ready to produce a lure but no meat is available, it will produce Leafy Meat as a lure instead. This lure, along with any other meats the Lureplant may use as bait, may be harvested by unequipping any weapon such that the option to "harvest meat" appears instead of "attack". When a meat is successfully harvested from a Lureplant, all Eyeplants will disappear, and the bulb will revert to a "just planted" look. The bulb will not display another meat until it is capable of producing Eyeplants, 2 days later. If a Lureplant dangles the same lure for more than the time it takes for the lure to spoil, harvesting it will give nothing. The player can hit the Lureplant to make it retract its empty tendril, and soon, it'll come out again with a fresh Leafy Meat. During Winter, Lureplants will withdraw their roots and Eyeplants, producing no lures.

With normal damage modifier characters, Lureplants take 9 hits with a Spear; 8 with a Bat Bat; 6 with a Tentacle Spike, Ham Bat, and Thulecite Club; and 5 with a Dark Sword to be killed. Killing the Lureplant will also allow the player to collect the Leafy Meat, in addition to any items the Lureplant has collected in its inventory, provided they have not yet been digested. Additionally, a Lureplant will always drop a Fleshy Bulb after death, which may be replanted on any valid terrain.

A Lureplant will only spawn in a location situated within a certain distance of any area the player has previously walked. This can be where the player is standing currently (on screen), but it actually has a range well beyond what one uncovers on the map, so it may not be noticed right away. However, unlike other changes to the landscape, the map updates immediately when a Lureplant has spawned, without requiring the player revisit the location. This makes detecting a Lureplant spawn easier.

The Lureplant's bulb itself does not possess any offensive or defensive capabilities, relying instead on the Eyeplants surrounding it for protection and sustenance.

Eyeplant
An Eyeplant is spawned from a Lureplant and will consume or attack anything that gets too close, including food from Crock Pots, Farms, and Drying Racks; Tooth Traps; and thrown Boomerangs. However, Eyeplants won't eat Backpacks or other containers. They are not very durable and will quickly retreat underground after being damaged by 30 HP. However, as long as the lure remains, new Eyeplants will pop up again after only a short interval. If an Eyeplant is attacked, the Lureplant from which it was spawned will withdraw the lure. After a short period of time, the Lureplant will once again deploy the lure.

Both the Lureplant and the Eyeplants are highly vulnerable to fire. Once one catches fire, it will quickly spread to the others, and they remain on fire until death. Lureplants that die in this manner destroy most of the items they have collected, though there is a chance for some items to emerge unscathed, including its current lure and Fleshy Bulb.

With normal damage modifier characters, Eyeplants will retreat into the ground with a single hit from all weapons.

Eyeplants cannot emerge from certain terrain types of terrain (crafted turfs, Cave Rock and Rocky Turfs, Fungal Turf or Spider creep). This makes Leafy Meat farms viable if bulbs are planted near a great deal of turf that Eyeplants cannot grow on.

Eyeplants will not spawn during winter (i.e. the parent Lureplant effectively "hibernates" until winter is over); any Eyeplants that have already spawned will de-spawn when winter arrives, and the Lureplant will look "just planted" for the rest of the season.

A single Lureplant is capable of sustaining up to 27 Eyeplants at once.

Reign of Giants
In the Reign of Giants DLC, Lureplants will only naturally appear during Spring. Also Eyeplants will not spawn on Sandy Turf.

Uses

 * Can be planted near a Grass or Twig farm since Eyeplants will automatically harvest them. Planting Saplings or Grass Tufts too close together will prevent the Eyeplants from being able to reach all spawns for harvest. Using Eyeplants this way is not recommended since unattended farms will quickly be digested.
 * Can be placed in an area where they will enter conflict with other creatures such as near Spider Dens.
 * Can be farmed for its Leafy Meat. To take the lure without attacking it, unequip any weapon and left-click the Lureplant. The Leafy Meat can then be eaten, used to recruit Pigs, or fed to a caged bird in exchange for a fresh Egg.
 * Since it is capable of digesting items it has consumed, it can be used to dispose of unwanted objects.
 * Fleshy Bulbs can be used as fuel, and Lureplants, if left long enough, create more Lureplants nearby. This allows for a slow yet self replenishing fuel source.
 * Can be used to empty Beehives and Killer Bee Hives to get Honey and Honeycombs or to safely open paths blocked by Killer Bee Hives.
 * When planted a small distance away from one's camp, they can protect the area from Spiders, Merms, or any other hostile Mobs.
 * Eyeplants are also good for dealing with Hounds. Plant a Lureplant near your base, leaving room for Eyeplants to spawn. When a pack of Hounds appear, simply run over to the Lureplant and circle around the Eyeplants. The Hounds will aggro on the Eyeplants and they will make short work of them. Take caution when dealing with Red Hounds though, as they can light up the entire Lureplant system and possibly burn its Fleshy Bulb to Ashes.
 * Eyeplants can be killed with a Bat Bat as they spawn to heal quickly if the player can deal with the Sanity loss.

Tips

 * A large number of Eyeplants can spawn around a Lureplant very rapidly, so it is important to remember not to plant it in your base or near anything that is obtainable and valuable (e.g. Berry Bushes, Farms).
 * For easy access to the bulb at the center, one can place certain turfs (see article) or a dense path of Saplings, Grass Tufts, etc., leading inward. If the objects making the path are close enough, Eyeplants will not be able to spawn where these objects are laid.
 * If one chooses to plant Lureplants in a group to make a farm for their Leafy Meat, a lot of hard turf is required to prevent any Eyeplants from growing. If there isn't enough flooring, the spawned Eyeplants will keep attacking each other, causing the owning Lureplants to repeatedly withdraw their lures, making them tedious to harvest.
 * Check your map every couple of days to see if any Lureplants have spawned. This can be helpful if you simply need a Lureplant, or if you see a Lureplant in a place where you wouldn't want them to be, like in Pig Villages or near farms.
 * Placing a Lureplant near Ponds will result in the Eyeplants attacking any Frogs that come near, which in turn causes Frogs to flock to attack. If a Frog attacks the Lureplant itself, an item it has not digested will come flying out (just like when a player is attacked). This can sometimes allow the player to get free Frog Legs, as well as Leafy Meat, without harvesting or destroying the bulb.
 * In addition, if the Lureplant is placed on turf that prevents Eyeplants from spawning near Ponds, the Frogs will repeatedly steal the Leafy Meat and the Lureplant will immediately produce more. This will result in a large amount of Leafy Meat from one Lureplant in a short span of time, but the Lureplant will be killed quite often.
 * The player can use a Lureplant to harvest Birds and Rabbits. Create a living minefield using 2-3 Lureplants, and head to the middle while wearing a Feather Hat or using Birds of the World as Wickerbottom. This will result in many Birds flocking to the character and being eaten by the Eyeplants. Smash the plant to take your reward. Using this tactic is the best way of harvesting Morsels and Feathers quickly and without raising one's naughtiness level or wasting other items.
 * A similar effect can be achieved by planting Lureplants near abundant Rabbit Holes.
 * You can use Pigs from a Pig Village to attack Eyeplants surrounding a Lureplant. Neutral Pigs will come to the aid of their brethren if they are attacked by Eyeplants. The Pigs may then carve a way through the Eyeplants to allow you to harvest or kill the Lureplant.
 * Using a friendly Pig, you may use it to assist you in carving a path to the Lureplant. When there is a way through, the Pig may eat the "meat" of the Lureplant, killing the rest of the Eyeplants. Using this technic is recommended only if you intend on ridding the Lureplant, not harvest.

Trivia

 * It is possible for an Eyeplant to attack other Eyeplants if they come from different Lureplants.
 * Lureplants were added to the game in the It's Not a Rock! update.
 * Lureplants began "hibernating" in the Winter after the Strange New Powers update.

Bugs

 * If an Eyeplant consumes a Boomerang, the player will be harmed upon harvesting the Lureplant. This is because the Boomerang does not lose its momentum after being eaten.
 * If the game crashes for any reason after the Lureplant has been killed but before the Eyeplants retreat, upon loading the game, there may be independent Eyeplants with no parent Lureplant.
 * If you are standing directly next to the ocean when you place a Lureplant you may be pushed onto the ocean with almost no way of returning to the land.
 * If you attack a lureplant immediately after it has been placed it will settle immediately and produce a lure shortly after.