Surgeons in Russia were astounded to find what they say is a 5cm fir tree growing inside a man's lung.
PHOTOS: X-ray reveals gestating flora
Artyom Sidorkin, 28, visited doctors in the central city of Izhevsk complaining of intense chest pain and said he had been coughing up blood.
After consulting X-rays, doctors were "100 percent sure" Mr Sidorkin had a tumour and decided on surgery to remove the cancer.
But when they opened him up, surgeons instead found a small fir tree growing inside his lung.
"I thought I was hallucinating," said surgeon Vladimir Kamashev.
"I asked my assistant to have a look: 'Come and see this — we've got a fir tree here'. He nodded in shock. I blinked three times as I was sure I was seeing things."
Dr Kamashev said he believed Mr Sidorkin must have inhaled a fir seed, which sprouted inside his lung and began growing into a tree.
The pain he felt was caused by the plant rubbing against his capillaries, Mr Kamashev said.
"It was very painful — but to be honest I did not feel any foreign object inside me," Mr Sidorkin said.
"I'm so relieved it's not cancer."
The discovery has not been independently verified.
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