Varga plant
- For the Ice Warrior, see Varga.
Varga plants were half vegetable and half animal, had the ability to poison other creatures with their thorns, making them into other Varga plants.
Resembling cacti, the Varga plant thorn had venom. An infected victim would first become homicidal. As the infection progressed, white hair would grow over their bodies. They had the power to drag themselves about by their roots.
Species history
Varga plants originally grew only on the Dalek's home planet Skaro, they existed since very early in Skaro's history, "Varga" meaning devourer in the Dal language. Originally they could not move, instead they would wait until their prey approached them. Later due to the chemical and radiological pollutants in Skaro's atmosphere and environment they began to mutate so they could move. (DW: Mission to the Unknown, BFD: Purity)
By the 39th century, the Daleks had imported them to other worlds, such as Kembel. When the Daleks set up a base on the planet Kembel they brought some Varga plants with them to act as sentries in the jungle surrounding their base. They were suited to this as they could move around freely by dragging themselves along with their roots. Jeff Garvey and Gordon Lowery, members of Marc Cory's expedition team, became infected. (DW: Mission to the Unknown)
The plant was again found on a terraformed Jupiter where the plant infected a large battalion of Earth Alliance troops. (BFDE: Dalek Empire II: Dalek War)