Cloud Flower

"Spin! Make cloud!"

- Whittle

A Cloud Flower is a power-up from Super Mario Galaxy 2. The flower of the plant looks like a cloud with eyes. If Mario grabs one, he'll transform into Cloud Mario. As Cloud Mario, he'll be able to create clouds as temporary platforms by spinning. These clouds have faces on them. Additionally, he can only make three of them before needing to get another Cloud Flower. The Cloud Flower improves Mario's jumping abilities, as he now falls slower and his long jumps are longer. A jumping trick that is little known is that the bounce made when Mario spins the clouds can be used to make Mario's jumps higher, although timing is difficult. The Cloud Flower also gives Mario the ability to stand on clouds that disappear when the normal Mario stands on it. However, if Cloud Mario touches water or takes damage, he reverts to regular Mario, causing any of his cloud platforms to disappear.

Cloud Flowers first appear in the Fluffy Bluff Galaxy. In the Puzzle Plank Galaxy, they are used to battle the boss Bugaboom. The Cloudy Court Galaxy introduces the fact that Mario's clouds will be affected by wind (and thus will move). The Throwback Galaxy requires Mario to use the Cloud Flower to collect Silver Stars. The Starshine Beach Galaxy has the Cloud Flower help in reaching the tip of the tower. In Bowser Jr.'s Boom Bunker, the Cloud Flower is needed to defeat Bowser Jr. In Bowser's Galaxy Generator, the Cloud Flower will be used, up until Mario acquires Yoshi. It is also used to collect multiple Green Stars in some of the aforementioned galaxies, along with in the Twisty Trials Galaxy.

The Cloud Flower is also the only power-up that is used in the game's final galaxy, the Grandmaster Galaxy. In that galaxy's daredevil run, Mario will be in his cloud-form up until the end; as there is no water or other power-ups, Mario's status as Cloud Mario does not disappear when in contact with a Launch Star, and if Mario takes damage, he loses a life and have to restart the whole level.

Trivia

 * The Cloud Flower is the only power-up that can be used aboard Starship Mario.
 * In Super Mario Galaxy 2, the noise it makes when Mario collects a Cloud Flower after having used at least one of his three clouds (though not completely losing the power-up) is very similar to if not exactly the same as the noise it makes in Super Mario Sunshine when a previously used fruit reappears in its permanent location.