Item #: SCP-3584

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3584 instances are kept in a specialized greenhouse in Site-892 with windows only on the roof, and watered as appropriate. Direct images of SCP-3584 are only to be viewed by already-affected personnel.

Description: SCP-3584 is a patch of anomalously tall (25-35 m) dandelions (Taraxacum officinale).

SCP-3584 instances are a potent cognitohazard: subjects who view SCP-3584 or images of it begin to perceive all plants as mechanical constructs over the course of several weeks, beginning with SCP-3584 itself, and gradually progressing to the rest of the plant kingdom. For example, affected subjects report seeing pipes and wires in place of roots, corrugated metal sheets in place of bark, and crude solar panels for leaves.

Due to SCP-3584's anomaly, all images and scans of them are perceived as being of an aluminum and steel dandelion-shaped machine. Samples taken by blindfolded personnel and analyzed by researchers unaware of SCP-3584 show it to be genetically identical to ordinary dandelions.

Two to four months after initial exposure, subjects' perception of plants is further corrupted to include all other senses. Affected D-class instructed to cut open SCP-3584 stalks require the use of welding tools. Subjects at this stage nearly always switch to an all-meat diet and avoid plant-sourced fabrics like cotton or hemp.

Subjects who continue to consume plants following exposure eventually die of metal poisoning or internal bleeding. Autopsies by both affected and unaffected researchers reveal the presence of small metal root-like wires growing in the subject's body.

Addendum: A large section of forest 2 km from Site-892 became filled with dandelions and suddenly collapsed, while several SCP-3584 stalks simultaneously withered and fell. SCP-3584-affected personnel were sent out alongside field recon teams for research purposes.

A sinkhole approximately 200 meters wide had opened, and was filled with dandelion flowers and pine tree trunks. Large amounts of smoke emanated from the hole with no visible source. Field agents found no evidence of either geological activity that would lead to sinkholes, nor gravitational, spatial or botanical anomalies other than an abnormally high density of roots.

SCP-3584-affected personnel present reported viewing the fallen tree trunks as large smokestacks and cooling towers, and the roots as pipes and tubes extending far underground.