15. Despite the absurdity of the concept, it was widely believed a race of plants from Central Asia was capable of literally growing lambs upon their sprouts like flowers
A legendary creature believed to be both an animal and plant simultaneously, the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary was once believed to have been indigenous to Central Asia. Connected to the plant by an umbilical cord, it is thought the creature possibly originated from misconceptions from the ancient world. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of trees in India “the fruit whereof is a wool”, referring to the then-unknown cotton plant, whilst Jewish folklore from the 1st millennium CE references a creature known as Yeduah, who was like a lamb sprouted from the earth. Similarly, Chinese mythology contains the legendary “watersheep”, a combination of plant and animal, connected to the ground via a stem which, if severed, would prove fatal to the lamb.
In spite of the patent absurdity of growing sheep like fruit, from the 14th-century the legendary creature was introduced to the public consciousness in Europe. Claimed during the mid-16th century by Sigismund, Baron von Herberstein, the Carniolan diplomat offered a descriptive and persuasive account of the animal. Eventually, in 1683, German physician Engelbert Kaempfer embarked on an expedition to Persia to ascertain the truth. Finding no evidence of the lamb-plant, Kaempfer concluded no such being existed and resolved to educate the misinformed European audiences of their foolishness.