I've just done the Canyon in Gothic II NotR Jharkendar, and there are a lot of cactus plants around. I used to grow cacti, and have had various types of cacti fall on my arms and my hands. The experience is VERY unpleasant as with some of them the spines are so fine that I had to use hot wax to be able to remove them from my skin.
So I there I was, running around the Canyon and I ran into and through a cactus. Automatically I checked my health, but I was fine ... and that made me think that it would be cool if an rpg set in a desert environment could have plants that do damage as well as monsters. Too late for Gothic II, sadly.
What do people think? Probably there are games out there with plant damage as a feature ...