Oddish



Oddish (ナゾノクサ) is one of fictional species of Pokémon in the Pokémon franchise. "Oddish" is a mixture of the words "odd", which means strange and peculiar, and "radish".

Appearance
Oddish looks like a small animated plant. Its body is blue, with two small feet and red eyes. On top of its head grows a large clump of 5 long green leaves.

Evolution
Oddish is the first in an evolution chain. It evolves into Gloom, and then into either Vileplume or Bellossom.

Biology
Oddish is a nocturnal Pokémon, using moonlight rather than the sun's rays for photosynthesis. During the day, Oddish avoids the sun's heat and brightness by burying itself into the earth, leaving only the leaves on top of its head visible above ground. In this way it disguises itself as a plant, misdirecting its carnivorous diurnal predators.

While buried, Oddish nourishes itself by absorbing nutrients from the soil using its feet, which are said to temporarily change into a root-like structure for this purpose.

If anyone pulls at Oddish's leaves and tries to uproot it while it is buried underground, Oddish will react by shrieking in a horrible voice.

Once nightfall comes, exposure to moonlight causes Oddish to become much more active. It extracts itself from the ground, and its extremities change back into the shape of legs. It then proceeds to bathe itself in the moonlight and grow, as well as wander around scattering its seeds. With the coming of dawn, the cycle repeats.

Oddish is the only Pokémon for which we know the pseudo-Latin "scientific name", as it appears in a Pokédex entry: Oddium wanderus.

In the video games
Oddish is abundant in many of the games. In Pokémon Yellow, it can be found on Routes 12, 13, 14, 15, 24 and 25, while in Pokémon Red it can additionally be found on Routes 5, 6 and 7. Pokémon FireRed adds to the above locations the Berry Forest, the Bond Bridge, the Cape Brink and the Water Path.

In Pokémon Silver and Gold, Oddish can be found on Routes 5, 6, 24, 25 and in Ilex Forest

In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, Oddish can be found on Routes 110, 117, 119, 120, 121, 123 and in the Safari Zone.

For a Basic Pokémon with two more stages of evolution Oddish has pretty good stats, especially in terms of special attack. It learns many status-inducing moves, as well as the somewhat powerful Petal Dance. Even though it can probably hold its own in some battles, Oddish's evolved forms Gloom, Vileplume and Bellossom are usually used instead of it.

In the anime
Oddish has made a fair number of appearances, but all of them are more or less cameos. Oddish usually appears as a part of a group of Grass-type Pokémon.

In one notable episode, an Oddish is staying with a number of Hoppip whose owner uses them to predict the weather. The unfortunate Oddish envies the Hoppip for their ability to 'fly' in strong breezes.

In other media
Oddish first appeared in the Pokémon Trading Card Game in the Jungle series. Since its introduction, it has appeared in several other sets, usually as commonly found cards. Oddish can be found in the following sets:
 * Jungle
 * Team Rocket
 * Gym Heroes (as Erika's Oddish, in a common and uncommon version)
 * Gym Challenge (as Erika's Oddish)
 * Neo Genesis
 * Expedition
 * Aquapolis
 * EX Hidden Legends
 * EX Unseen Forces
 * Holo Phantoms (as a Delta species)