A 6-year-old Chongqing boy had a seed removed from his ear after it started sprouting and causing him pain.
His mother surnamed Peng said she caught sight of the sprout while cleaning Haohao's ears on Thursday after he complained of discomfort.
"It looked like a little bean that had germinated," Peng told Chongqing TV.
Doctors confirmed it was indeed a seed, and removed it from Haohao's ear with a 30-minute procedure.
Temperatures in the ear canal average between 36 and 38 C - making it a hospitable environment for germination.
Though it was unclear as to how the seed got in Haohao's ear in the first place, he suggested that it may have fell in while he was playing outside.