“ | ” | |
- For a similar named plant in Plants vs. Zombies Heroes, see Poison Mushroom.
Shadow-shroom is the third plant obtained in Modern Day in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It explodes into poison once a zombie eats it, and the poison effect deals 900 damage per shot worth of damage over the span of 30 seconds and ignores all armors, such as buckets and ice blocks. When Shadow-shroom is powered by a Moonflower, Conceal-mint, Gloom Vine, or Noctarine, the zombie who eats it can also spread the poison effect to nearby zombies.
In the Chinese version, it loses its armor-piercing effect.
Origins

Shadow-shroom is based on many Inkcap mushrooms from the genera Coprinus, Coprinellus and Coprinopsis, which are known for the black ink-like substance secreted from the bottoms of their mushroom caps.
Its name comes from "shadow", from the fact it's a shadow plant and a "mushroom", the plant it's based on.
Shadow-shroom's poison ability is based on how many Inkcaps are known to be very toxic to humans, particularly after being eaten in combination with alcohol.
Audio
Sound | Description |
---|---|
Shadow-shroom's Plant Food. | |
Zombie getting poisoned. |
Almanac entry
Note: The stats shown below only apply to Level 1.
Shadow-shroom
|
| |||||
![]() | ||||||
Shadow-shroom
SUN COST: 50
RECHARGE: 10
SPECIAL: Poison
RANGE: Touch
FAMILY: Conceal-mint
Shadow-shrooms poison zombies who eat them, inflicting damage over time.
Usage: single use, on contact
Special: powered Shadow-shrooms make poisoned zombies poison other zombies
Despite being such a poisonous and profoundly inedible fungus, Shadow-shroom is nonetheless a total cutie-pie.
Upgrades
Plant Food effect

Plant Food ability
When fed with Plant Food, Shadow-shroom will take a deep breath then cause an ink explosion, poisoning every zombie (except Imp Cannons) on screen. Zombies already poisoned will have the poison effect cured, but receive 900 non-armor piercing damage immediately instead.
Conceal-mint effect
When boosted by Conceal-mint, Shadow-shroom's poison damage is increased by 60 DPS. It will be powered even if not adjacent to a Moonflower.
Level upgrades
Level | Seed Packets | Coins | Upgrades | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sun Cost |
Recharge (Mediocre) |
Starting Recharge |
Toughness (Typical) |
Special (Poison)* |
Range | ||||
Damage^ | Duration | ||||||||
1 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 10 seconds | 5 seconds | 50 dps | 30 dps | 30 seconds | Touch |
2 | 10 | 1,000 | 10 seconds | 5 seconds | 35 dps | 29 seconds | |||
3 | 75 | 5,000 | 9 seconds | 4.5 seconds | 40 dps | 29 seconds | |||
4 | 200 | 10,000 | 8 seconds | 4.5 seconds | 45 dps | 28 seconds | |||
5 | 400 | 20,000 | 8 seconds | 4.5 seconds | 50 dps | 27 seconds | |||
6 | 750 | 30,000 | 7 seconds | 4 seconds | 55 dps | 27 seconds | |||
7 | 1,000 | 40,000 | 25 | 7 seconds | 4 seconds | 60 dps | 26 seconds | ||
8 | 1,250 | 50,000 | 6 seconds | 3.5 seconds | 60 dps | 26 seconds | |||
9 | 1,500 | 60,000 | 6 seconds | 3.5 seconds | 60 dps | 25 seconds | |||
10 | 2,000 | 75,000 | 5 seconds | 3 seconds | 60 dps | 24 seconds |
*Applies to both normal and Plant Food states.
^Per second.
Mastery upgrades
- Chance to Boost
- Damage Pierce
Level upgrades (China only)
Costumed (China only)
Its effect now slows down zombies.
Strategies
Shadow-shroom's main role in the player's arsenal is to counter armored enemies by bypassing their armor altogether and damage them directly. While Shadow-shroom's main advantage is its relatively fast recharge rate, it is ultimately not a stellar plant for its job as most other instant use plants of similar recharge rate such as Ghost Pepper and Lava Guava, as they can deal enough damage to render zombie armor not a significant issue. Shadow-shroom also receives a great weakness in its very poor effect radius, which is not addressed at all when powered due to the poison requiring zombies to be close together to spread. In addition, Shadow-shroom's low damage potential and lengthy time required to deal full damage makes it a poor choice against high health enemies without armor, in particular mechanical enemies and Gargantuars. In fact, there are far more poisonous plants faring better like Puffball, Goo Peashooter, Level 5+ Stunion and even just Ail-Mint.
The player may find great value in Shadow-shroom's Plant Food ability: As it can poison every enemy on the screen, the Plant Food effect will make short work of all armored zombies. Dark Ages and Jurassic Marsh provide prime example of this, as Knight Zombies are frequent sights in the Dark Ages due to Zombie Kings, while the enemy composition in Jurassic Marsh is primarily consisted of armored zombies, meaning only Jurassic Bullies and Jurassic Gargantuars can survive the attack.
A powered Shadow-shroom can benefit from being paired with slowing plants, defensive plants, or speedy zombies. For example, Hurrikale or Chard Guard can knock the poisoned target back into the zombie crowd and spread the effect, while Garlic or Sweet Potato can be used to create choke points for Shadow-shroom to affect more enemies. Shadow-shroom is also a helpful plant for fighting Pharaoh Zombies and Newspaper Zombies, since it can neutralize them without breaking their armor and causing them to accelerate.
Avoid using Shadow-shroom against Jester Zombies while spinning as they're immune to the poison effect. Using Shadow-shroom on hordes of Zombie Chickens or Ice Weasels (unless fed with Plant Food or powered by Moonflower) are also a bad idea as only one Zombie Chicken or Ice Weasel can get poisoned since unlike Hypno-shroom, it is destroyed on contact. Same thing when encountering Healer Zombies, as they will cure zombies and remove the posion from the Shadow shroom as well as being immune to itself.
Related achievement
![]() |
---|
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Shadow-shroom.
| |||
|
In other languages
Language | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
Shadow-shroom | ||
毒影菇 | lit. "Poison Shadow Mushroom" | |
Champi-noir | ||
Schattenpilz | ||
Ombraporcino | ||
Sombragumelo | ||
Sombraseta |
Trivia
- When planting a Shadow-shroom that is not going to be powered by Moonflower, the player can briefly see it powered up.
- Recently planted Shadow-shrooms near Moonflowers when eaten by zombies after planting, might not have their boost effect.
- This is because shadow plants take around half a second to be powered by a Moonflower when planted within said Moonfloower's 3x3 tile radius.
- If it is planted during Last Stand setup, it appears to be powered, even though the player cannot use Moonflowers.
- If there is a frozen block with a zombie inside on the lawn and the player uses Plant Food on Shadow-shroom, the zombie will be poisoned, but it will not suffer any damage unless the frozen block is destroyed.
- The powered Shadow-shroom in The Shadow Family's icon is not poking its tongue out.
- Despite having a poisonous effect and being a mushroom, it is not in the Ail-mint family, due to being a shadow plant.
Specific to Chinese version (China only)
- Most zombies don't have the visual poison mask when they're poisoned by it.
See also
V · T · E | L · G |
---|
Plants vs. Zombies | |
---|---|
Day | Peashooter · Sunflower · Cherry Bomb · Wall-nut · Potato Mine · Snow Pea · Chomper · Repeater |
Night | Puff-shroom · Sun-shroom · Fume-shroom · Grave Buster · Hypno-shroom · Scaredy-shroom · Ice-shroom · Doom-shroom |
Pool | Lily Pad · Squash · Threepeater · Tangle Kelp · Jalapeno · Spikeweed · Torchwood · Tall-nut |
Fog | Sea-shroom · Plantern · Cactus · Blover · Split Pea · Starfruit · Pumpkin · Magnet-shroom |
Roof | Cabbage-pult · Flower Pot · Kernel-pult · Coffee Bean · Garlic · Umbrella Leaf · Marigold · Melon-pult |
Upgrades | Gatling Pea · Twin Sunflower · Gloom-shroom · Cattail · Winter Melon · Gold Magnet · Spikerock · Cob Cannon |
Others | Imitater · Explode-o-nut · Giant Wall-nut · Giant Sunflower · Giant Marigold · Sprout · Tree of Wisdom |
Plants vs. Zombies: Social Edition | |
---|---|
Normal | Peashooter · Sunflower · Cherry Bomb · Wall-nut · Potato Mine · Chomper · Repeater · Puff-shroom · Scaredy-shroom · Snow Pea · Sun-shroom · Fume-shroom · Grave Buster · Lily Pad · Squash · Spikeweed · Tangle Kelp · Torchwood · Sea-shroom · Jalapeno · Coffee Bean · Tall-nut · Pumpkin · Magnet-shroom · Blover · Melon-pult · Cactus |
Premium | Pickled Pepper · Icy Fume-shroom · Fire-shroom · Flamewood · Vine-nut · Gatling Pea · Twin Sunflower · Gloom-shroom · Winter Melon · Super Chomper · Future Star · Calm Chuck |
Plants vs. Zombies Adventures | |
---|---|
>Normal | Peashooter · Sunflower · Aspearagus · Wall-nut · Cherry Bomb · Popcorn · Beet · Snow Pea · Jalapeño · Magnet Plant · Flaming Pea · Shamrock · Bamboo Shoot · Repeater · Chilly Pepper · Twin Sunflower |
VIPs | Sweet Pea · Beeshooter · Hard-nut · Acespearagus · Power Flower · Beetboxer · Ice Queen Pea · Shamrockstar · Bamboom |
Others | Trees |
Plants vs. Zombies 2 (Chinese version) | |
---|---|
Ancient Egypt | Peashooter · Sunflower · Wall-nut · Cabbage-pult · Bloomerang · Iceberg Lettuce · Grave Buster · Bonk Choy · Repeater · Twin Sunflower · Snow Pea · Cherry Bomb · Torchwood |
Pirate Seas | Kernel-pult · Snapdragon · Power Lily · Spikeweed · Spring Bean · Coconut Cannon · Spikerock · Lightning Reed · Tall-nut |
Wild West | Threepeater · Squash · Split Pea · Chili Bean · Jalapeno · Pea Pod · Melon-pult · Winter Melon · Imitater |
Kongfu World | Radish · Fire Gourd · Heavenly Peach · Bamboo-shoot |
Far Future | Laser Bean · Blover · Citron · E.M.Peach · Infi-nut · Magnifying Grass · Tile Turnip · Starfruit |
Dark Ages | Hypno-shroom · Sun-shroom · Puff-shroom · Fume-shroom · Sun Bean · Pea-nut · Magnet-shroom · Oak Archer · Coffee Bean · Plantern |
Big Wave Beach | Acidic Citrus · Lotuspot · Lily Pad · Bowling Bulb · Banana Launcher · Guacodile · Tangle Kelp · Homing Thistle |
Frostbite Caves | Hurrikale · Fire Peashooter · Hot Potato · Pepper-pult · Chard Guard · Stunion · Rafflesia · Tornacorn |
Sky City | Rotobaga · Cycloque · Aspiragus · Saucer Squash · Board Beans · Lantern Cherry · Ampthurium · Spinnapple |
Lost City | Lava Guava · Red Stinger · A.K.E.E. · Stallia · Gold Leaf · Toadstool · Jackfruit |
Neon Mixtape Tour | MC Glory · Phat Beet · Thyme Warp · Celery Stalker · Spore-shroom · Garlic · Intensive Carrot · Cactus |
Jurassic Marsh | Primal Peashooter · Primal Wall-nut · Perfume-shroom · Primal Sunflower · Primal Potato Mine · Primal Rafflesia · Dinonip · Thorns · Mastercane |
Modern Day | Shadow-shroom · Caulipower · Moonflower · Grimrose · Nightshade · Dusk Lobber · Blooming Heart |
Steam Ages | Gold Bloom · Flat-shroom · Passionflower · Lotus Root · Fanilla · Lily of Alchemy · Berry Blaster |
Renaissance Age |
Aloe · Kinnikannon · Wax Guard · Oil Olive · Ruby Red · Dartichoke |
Heian Age | Sumo Melon · Wasabi Whip · Auberninja · Dripphylleia · Splitting Stephania · Kunai Tupistra · Windbreak Dendrobium · Orchid Chef · Geisha Flower · Stickybomb Rice |
Fairytale Forest | Ents · Heath Seeker · Hat Mushroom |
Monthly special | Pyro-shroom · Carrotillery · Cryo-shroom · Dandelion · Aggro Brocco · Pomegunate · Chomper · Sweet Potato · Lord Bamboo · Sap-fling · Ghost Pepper · Chest-nut · Bambrook · Zorrose · Magic-shroom · Electric Blueberry · R.A.D Missiles · Endurian · Pumpkin Witch · Sunflower Singer · Snowy Cotton · Guerrequila · Monkeyfruit · Plumping Plummy · Dragonfruit · Angel Starfruit · Gatling Pea · Match Flower · Firebloom Queen · Cattail · Grapeshot · Cold Snapdragon · Shrinking Violet · Cob Cannon · Apple Mortar · Witch Hazel · Escape Root · Electric Currant · Explode-O-Nut · Parsnip · Missile Toe · Kiwibeast · Electric Peashooter · Hot Date · Icy Currant · Trump Tulip · Banana Dancer · Dual Pistol Pinecone · Narcissus · Alarm Arrowhead · Holly Barrier · Shadow Peashooter · Snap Pea · Frostbloom Queen · Sling Pea · Zapdragon · Electrici-tea · Imp Pear · Strawburst · Egrett Flower · Goo Peashooter · Bud-minton · Curling Corms · Pokra · Dollarweed Drummer · Ultomato · Shadow Fanilla · Bromel Blade · Gumnut · Olive Pit · Nuclear Earthstar · Headbutter Lettuce · Dazey Chain · Boom Balloon Flower · Soda Bottle Palm · Tiger Claw · Impaintiens · Turkey-pult · Hammerflower · Fishhook Grass · Energy Mangosteen · Inferno · Tigerstool · Gardenergrass · Draftodil |
Others | Potato Mine · Flower Pot · Tactical Cuke |
Removed | Rotten Red |
Plants vs. Zombies Online | |
---|---|
Player's House | Sunflower · Peashooter · Wall-nut · Potato Mine |
Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum | Bruce Bamboo · Carrot Rocket · Pomegranate-pult · Dandelion · Venus Flytrap · Wax Gourd · Sod |
Ancient Egypt | Bloomerang · Bonk Choy · Grave Buster · Iceberg Lettuce · Cabbage-pult |
Pirate Seas | Snapdragon · Spikeweed · Spring Bean · Kernel-pult · Coconut Cannon · Narcissus · Endurian · Spikerock · Pineapple Cannon · Threepeater |
Far Future | Laser Bean · Blover · Citron · E.M.Peach · Tile Turnip · Ganoderma · Banana Tree · Nitro-shroom · Infi-nut · Magnifying Grass |
East Sea Dragon Palace | Oxygen Algae · Garlic · Bubble Flower · Electric Anemone |
Upgrades | Twin Sunflower · Repeater |
VIPs | Winter Melon |
Power Ups | Cherry Bomb · Jalapeno |
Premium | Squash · Snow Pea · Tall-nut |
Adventure Mode only | Magic Vine · Split Pea · Chili Bean · Lightning Reed · Pea Pod · Melon-pult · Starfruit · Chomper · Fire Peashooter · Cattail · Zorrose · Clivia · Sap-fling · Acidic Citrus · Magic-shroom · Ghost Pepper · Guacodile · Hurrikale · Plantern · Oak Archer · Homing Thistle · Pepper-pult · Radish · Toadstool · Blooming Heart · Red Stinger · Electric Blueberry · A.K.E.E. · Moonflower · Guerrequila · Aspiragus · Pumpkin Witch · Mine Fruit · Sea Anemone · Lychee Drill · Sea Starfruit |
Plants vs. Zombies 3 | |
---|---|
Neighborville | Sunflower · Wall-Nut · Bamboo Shoots · Peashooter · Bonk Choy |
Lost Keys Lake | Lily Pad · Tangle Kelp · Squash |
Mt. Quesogrande | Chili Bean · Silversword · Cabbage-Pult |
Power-Ups | Grapes of Wrath · Chilly Pepper · Jalapeño · Cherry Bomb · Blover |
Pre-2021 | Puff-Shroom · Buttercup · Garlic · Potato Mine · Pushywillow · Chard Guard · Spikeweed · Kernel-Pult · Caramel Popcorn · Lightning Reed · Melon-Pult · Shuffle Truffle · Blockbuster · Butternut Squash · Ragweed · Sawgrass · Fire Peashooter · Pine Needler · Snow Pea · Night Cap · Aloe Vera · Sweet Potato · Hydrangea · Dogwood · Chomper · Flak Seed · Gravitree · Gloom-Shroom · Lemon-Aid · Starfruit · Snapdragon · Fairy Ring Mushroom · Kalestorm · Star Tree · Magic Beans |