OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD PLANTS BY JESSI KIMBLE
The stories of Galaxy ’ s Edge
and Pandora begin when you transition from the amusement park atmosphere to areas of unknown flora and terrain . The ground is different , the plants and trees are strange , the sounds become unfamiliar , and suddenly you are completely immersed in a whole new world . It ’ s the plants that bring these lands to life .
PANDORA The floating mountains in the Valley of Mo ’ ara may take center stage , but without the more than 250 varieties of live plant life , this tropical land just wouldn ’ t be Pandora . Those plants , along with many other fictional types of flora , bring this rainforest to life . Real plants include those that flourish in Florida like epiphytes , succulents , ferns , bromeliads , agave , and aloe . Here it ’ s easy to wonder which plants are real and which ones are Imagineered .
AVATAR FAVORITES While the enormous scorpion thistle was obviously built by Imagineers , the dapophet resembles an aloe or succulent — so convincing that you might think it ’ s real . As Pandora lore goes , the
ABOVE : The spitting plant , or flaska reclinata , really solidifies the transition to the alien world of Pandora . PHOTO BY BRETT SVENSON