The Sims 3/Death flower

The Death Flower is a special flower in The Sims 3, with a strange stigma resembling a skull and with lots of tendrilly scarlet petals and leaves. This flower returns in The Sims 4 as a part of the October 1, 2014 patch.

Use
The Death Flower cannot be directly used, cannot be sold for any money, and cannot be duplicated using an Omni Plant. However, it is incredibly valuable. The Grim Reaper has a particular fondness for these flowers, and this can be used to a Sim's advantage. Should a Sim perish by any particular reason, the Grim Reaper will come and try to take the Sim's soul, but the Sim in question will offer him the flower, and the Grim Reaper will gladly take the flower and bring the Sim back to life with slightly raised Motives, to give the Sim the chance to quickly fix the motive that resulted in their undone demise (the Sim will have their fun need empty and get the "Stressed Out" moodlet immediately). Even having just the seed can have a similar effect but seeing as most often they are unknown special seeds, Sims are better off growing the plant. The death flower also works for sims who die of old age, but will only reset them to the start of the elder lifestage.

Acquisition
In The Sims 3, it can be acquired by growing them from an Unknown Special Seed or a Death Flower Seed using the Gardening skill.
 * Random sample of the flower may be picked from Pleasant Rest Graveyard.
 * Random chance to acquire a seed from Fishing. May need to be an angler with level 5 skill.
 * Random chance to receive a seed during use of a Time Machine
 * Random chance to acquire a seed when Sims rummage a trash can.
 * Random chance to acquire a seed when exploring the catacombs.
 * Random chance to acquire a seed when completing an opportunity.
 * With Dragon Valley, an Armored Black Dragon can also summon Death Flowers.
 * With Door of Life and Death premium content, Sims will be rewarded a death flower from winning against the Grim Reaper in a guitar duel.

The Unknown Special Seeds can be mass-acquired near the neighborhood cemetery like Pleasant Rest Graveyard in Sunset Valley, Ivy Hill Graveyard in Twinbrook, and Bridgeport Eternal Rest Cemetery. They reappear every few days. These seeds can grow Plasma Fruit (if Late Night installed), Money Trees, Flame Fruit, Life Fruit or Death Flowers.

The Death Flower can be planted with if your sim has level 7 on Gardening skill. After it reaches the Harvest stage, it can be picked for a single Death Flower, killing the plant in the process.

A death flower bush can be found and harvested in a tomb in the Pyramid of the Sky in Al Simhara, Egypt. This plant cannot be revived after harvesting. In The Sims 3 Dragon Valley +The Duke of Bows Renaissance Faire Venue, The Armored Black Dragon can summon Death Flowers as one of its powers

Player Tips

 * Sims with the Green Thumb trait can revive the plant (there is a 50% chance of success). The first time this is done, it is very likely to be revived (but it can fail, the same as any other dead plant), but on the second harvest it will always become barren. This means that a Sim with this trait can get an endless supply of them, by planting them, harvesting, reviving and re-harvesting. Therefore, it would be a wise move to have someone in a family to have this trait to mass-produce Death Flowers for everyone's use.
 * If a Sim with Unlucky or the Loser trait dies of unnatural causes with the death flower on the inventory, the flower will not be used up, and the Grim Reaper will revive the Sim with the message regarding him enjoying the Sim's misery.
 * With the Science skill at level 9 from University Life, it is possible to clone an infinite number of Death Flowers using the ZRX-9000 Science Research Station.

Opportunity
One opportunity directly related to a Death Flower exists.
 * Extreme Life Insurance
 * [Friend] fears a visit from the grim reaper may come all too soon and would like a little... insurance. Grow a Death Flower and deliver it to [Friend] before it's too late. You'll be paid handsomely

Trivia

 * Unlike other plants, The Death Flower plant will always produce a perfect quality Death Flower despite The Death Seed or Unknown Special Seed quality.
 * Unlike most other plants, Death Flower bought from the buydebug cheat is of perfect quality. This helps in completing the Botanical Boss challenge, should you opt to do it that way.