If you've ever eaten a freshly grown tomato from a local farmers market, you know how anomalous and quirky natural plants can look. But this time, we’re taking the oddness of Mother Nature to a whole new level.

Please meet the aliens of the plant kingdom that resemble little creatures you’d see in Ridley Scott’s movie. This is due to a condition known as vivipary, which basically, and now you may hold tight, refers to “live birth” in Latin. And it means precisely what it sounds like—it’s when the seeds start germinating while still attached to the mother plant.

So let’s dive into the fascinating world of vivipary in plants as compiled by Bored Panda, so we all know what gardeners' nightmares are made of, and the next time you eat your lovely salad, don't take it for granted.

#1 Mutant! My Sunflower Has Had An Unconventional Baby

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#2 This Tomato Sprouting Its Seeds

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#3 Friend Of Mine Found An Apple With An Apple Tree Growing Out Of It

Image credits: Mattman91

In order to find out more about this unusual phenomenon, Bored Panda spoke to David Lifton, a gardener and blogger who runs the Instagram account “Young Ground Grows.” David said that vivipary is pretty common sight for him because he has been growing his own produce on his allotment garden for eight years.

David explained that vivipary is a condition whereby the seeds of a fruit begin to sprout from inside the fruit. “Every seed contains growth hormones that are programmed to activate when the conditions are right (heat, light, humidity). And they normally do this once the fruit has dropped and has rotted away in the soil.”

However, these growth hormones can be tricked to grow prematurely in situations where fruits are left out in hot or humid weather.

#4 Sprouting Strawberries? How Can I Fix This?

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#5 Forgot About This Tomato While On Vacation And It Sprouted

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#6 This Strawberry's Seeds Started Sprouting While It Was Still On The Plant

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David also said that you can eat vivipary fruits, but you need “to cut around the sprouted seeds and check there's no softness on the skin, bad odor, or signs of mold, as this would indicate the fruit is off.”

Even though vivipary-affected fruits and veggies look odd, to say the least, it turns out the condition is more common than we think. “If you grow your own pumpkins and squash and store them away for a few months, when you come to open them up, you may find the seeds have begun to sprout!”

Plus, “if you live in the western hemisphere, you'll most likely find vivipary in supermarket peppers,” David said.

#7 An Avocado Tree Was Starting To Grow Inside My Avocado

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#8 Noticed Something That Looked Like A Worm In My Apple. Upon Further Inspection, It Turned Out To Be The Seeds Inside Sprouting

Image credits: 5 years ago

#9 Live Birth

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Other places where you can find vivipary fruits is near the equator, “where length of day and temperatures stay consistent.” Here, David explained that “vivipary may be a far more common sight in lots of fruits,” not just sprouting tomatoes.

#10 The Seeds In My Butternut Squash Were Sprouting On The Inside

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#11 Vivipary (Premature Germination) Of Corn Kernels. This Condition Is Most Likely To Occur When Kernels Have Dried Down To 20% Moisture Or Less And Are Then Rewetted By Rains

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#12 My Tomato's Seeds Have Started To Sprout From The Inside

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#13 Mango Pit Began To Grow Into A Tree, While Still Inside The Mango (Full Branch Visible)

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#14 The Seeds In This Tomato Started Sprouting

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#15 I Find These Wonders Of Nature Often On My Plate

Just as I was about to gobble up these pomegranate seeds I saw some green sticking to one of the seeds and thought it could be the coriander greens I was handling the same time I peeled the pomegranate. But it turned out to be a sprouting seed, a fine example of viviparous behaviour. I have experienced in earlier in papaya, many citrus fruits, tomatoes, cantaloupes, watermelon and even mangoes