Bulbasaur is a small, quadruped Pokémon that has blue-green skin with darker green patches. It has red eyes with white pupils and pointed, ear-like structures on top of its head. Its snout is short and blunt, and it has a wide mouth. A pair of small, pointed teeth are visible in the upper jaw when its mouth is open. Each of its thick legs ends with three sharp claws. On its back is a green plant bulb, which is grown from a seed planted there at birth. The bulb provides it with energy through photosynthesis as well as from the nutrient-rich seeds contained within.
As mentioned in the anime, starter Pokémon are raised by Breeders to be distributed to new Trainers. Having been domesticated from birth, Bulbasaur is regarded as both a rare and well-behaved Pokémon. It is known to be extremely loyal, even after long-term abandonment. Bulbasaur has also shown itself to be an excellent caretaker, even having a special technique called the "Bulba-by." To perform this technique, Bulbasaur uses its vines to pick up a young Pokémon and soothingly rocks it in the air.
It is found in grasslands and forests throughout the Kanto region. However, due to Bulbasaur's status as starter Pokémon, it is hard to come by in the wild and generally found under the ownership of a Trainer. It has been observed that a Bulbasaur's bulb will flash blue when it is ready to evolve. If it does not want to evolve, it struggles to resist the transformation. Many Bulbasaur gather every year in a hidden garden in Kanto to evolve into Ivysaur in a ceremony led by a Venusaur.
Ash's Bulbasaur debuted in Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village as one of the Pokémon in the Hidden Village. Though initially wary of Ash, the two eventually warmed up to one another, and Bulbasaur challenged him to a battle. Using Pikachu, Ash won the battle, and Bulbasaur was caught. Unlike Charmander and Squirtle, which were caught in the two episodes following that of Bulbasaur, Bulbasaur remained in Ash's party until Bulbasaur... the Ambassador!, when Ash sent him to Professor Oak's lab to work as an ambassador between otherwise argumentative groups of Pokémon.
Much later on, when Ash was traveling in the Hoenn region, his companion May caught her own Bulbasaur after being separated from the group in Grass Hysteria!. It remained with her throughout the rest of her journey in Hoenn, helping her to compete in the regionalGrand Festival. When she traveled to Kanto to continue her journey with Ash in The Right Place and the Right Mime, May, too, left her Bulbasaur at Professor Oak's lab to learn from Ash's while she and Ash's group traveled throughout the Battle Frontier in Kanto. May retrieved it during her travels in Johto, where it evolved all the way into a Venusaur.
A Bulbasaur that used to belong to the Mayor of Trovitopolis appeared in The Mystery Menace. In his childhood, the mayor abandoned his Bulbasaur and sent it into the sewers when it wouldn't evolve into Ivysaur. Aided by Misty and Tracey, Ash found the abandoned Bulbasaur while searching for his own, which had gone missing. After defeating the arrogant mayor and his personal SWAT team, Ash and company left the Bulbasaur, which had grown rather large in its time in the sewers, with Nurse Joy.
Bulbasaur was mentioned in the first episode of the anime, Pokémon - I Choose You!, as one of the three starter Pokémon new Trainers in Pallet Town can choose from. Ash dreamed of owning one, and it was his second choice of a starter, after Squirtle. However, when he arrived at Oak's lab, it was too late, as an unnamed Trainer who started the same day had already taken it.
Bulbasaur. It bears the seed of a plant on its back from birth. The seed slowly develops. Researchers are unsure whether to classify Bulbasaur as a plant or animal. Bulbasaur are extremely calm and very difficult to capture in the wild.
Ash's Bulbasaur appears in The Electric Tale of Pikachu, first appearing in the eighth chapter, You Gotta Have Friends. Bulbasaur's capture is not shown; it is simply stated when it first appears from its Poké Ball that "Ash has been busy since the last comic".
In I'm Your Venusaur, Ash and Misty travel to a town inhabited by many Bulbasaur, Ivysaur and Venusaur. There is a local legend that a giant Venusaur saved the townsfolk in battle.
Bulbasaur is a cute Pokémon born with a large seed firmly affixed to its back; the seed grows in size as the Pokémon does. Along with Squirtle and Charmander, Bulbasaur is one of the three Pokémon available at the beginning of Pokémon Red and Blue. It evolves into Ivysaur.
Brawl trophy information
"A Seed Pokémon. From birth, Bulbasaur carries a large plant seed on its back. It uses the nutrients from the seed to grow bigger and bigger. Extended exposure to the sun will cause its body and seed to grow in size. Some say that once, when the seed was much lighter, Bulbasaur was able to get around on two legs. Bulbasaur evolves into Ivysaur."
Niue released a one-dollar coin featuring Bulbasaur as part of a commemorative promotion for the Pokémon franchise, with Bulbasaur on one side and the nation's coat of arms on the other.
Bulbasaur's evolution family is the only starter Pokémon evolution family to have each member appear at least once in the Super Smash Bros. series.
Bulbasaur and its evolutions share their category with Sunkern. They are all known as the Seed Pokémon.
Due to the censor that prevents Pokémon with offensive nicknames being traded on the GTS, a Bulbasaur with an English name cannot be traded on the GTS without a nickname in Pokémon Black and White.
Bulbasaur appears to be based primarily on some form of reptile, specifically mammal-like reptiles known as Dicynodonts from the Permian period. Along with visible ears and no genuine metamorphosis stage (evolution aside), Bulbasaur appears to have more in common with mammals than amphibians such as frogs and toads, which metamorphose from one definite creature into another as they mature as opposed to just growing into a larger adult version of itself the way that Bulbasaur does. Alternatively, Bulbasaur's large rounded snout, wide mouth, wide-set eyes, blotch-patterned skin, and quadraped-like movements are vaguely similar to those of certain amphibians, such as the common toad. Since Bulbasaur's "ears" do not in fact have hollows, they may actually be similar to the glands present behind the eyes of many species of frogs and toads.
The bulb on its back may resemble that of a lily or onion.
Name origin
Bulbasaur is a combination of bulb (a rounded underground storage organ present in some plants, notably those of the lily family) and saur (Ancient Greek for lizard).
Fushigidane literally means "isn't it strange?" and is also a pun on 不思議種 fushigidane (mysterious bulb).
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
Venusaurite (100%)
For other sprites and images, please see Bulbasaur images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
