Well, there's an ivy leaf at the top but the rest is a flight of fancy imo. There's a vague resemblance to Typha latifolia in the leaves but the flowers are wrong and the round blobs at the bottom don't match anything other than a bunch of some out of scale berries or apples. So, in sum, it isn't a real plant.

Yeah, definitely not Cat Tail, the blooms/stalks here are short, bulbous, tear drop shaped and not smooth like a cat tail would be. I've a feeling it is an arrangement of two plants, the balls at the bottom being one thing, and the grassy leaves and stalks being another, but I've no clue what those two would be. Some in the clock group this is from suggested barley and hops, aka, beer theme, but definitely not either of those. Barely has long thin grassy seed stalks like wheat, and hops buds hang downward in clumps they don't stick upward singly on stalks, and are not reminiscient of the balls at the base either.

I am pretty certain these are imaginary plants, not representations of real ones. Not remotely like barley or hops.

The clock maker may have been inspired by the Military Orchid, Orchis militaris, conserning the resemblence to the leaves and the shape of the flower ,which has a single bloom, and grows in Germany, and also maybe inspired by some species with multiple blooms in Asparagaceae and the bromeliad family. The bottom knobby part could be a pineapple, or a tropical ant plant that has hollow knobs to house ants that will protect it. The military orchid flowers don't have involucre bracts. It's not a representation of any real extant species. In Muslim art they don't believe in making art using real leaves and flowers, but they represent their art by using shapes that don't exist in nature. I would try to learn who made it, and see if there are other cookoo clocks of his out there. Try to learn more about the clock maker. I could be totally wrong about everything? Gargoyles don't exist, yet they look like they could be real.

As for pineapple, the bloom/stalk on a pineapple is another tiny pinapple, which this does not appear to be, ie: it would have spiky leaves atop the body of the baby pineapple. I couldn't find any Military orchid with buds that weren't yet open, so not sure there, though it is a possibility. For the most part, I can tell you that I've not seen any cuckoo clocks with fantasy or non-real carvings. The carvings are all of simplified natural real life objects/wildlife, so I highly doubt it is an imaginary plant.

As for identifying the maker, next to impossible. Most cuckoo clocks were not signed, and these antiques from late 1800's-early 1900s were from a time were there is little documented history left.

If they are supposed to be real plants, they're so highly stylised as to be unrecognisable. Most cuckoo clocks feature such things as spruce, vine leaves, ivy, oak, grapes, edelweiss etc. not rare orchids or exotics like pineapples. Could we see the whole clock? The pale wood looks unusual.

This is the only photo that was posted. Poster was asked for photos of the whole clock, as the theme might help in identifying, but none were supplied. So, if I had to guess the item is up for auction and poster doesn't want others finding/bidding. The pale wood is ~100 years old and just extremely dry. It would clean up nicely given some oil/care.

Are you sure it's age rather than lime washed wood not intended to be polished? A hundred years isn't that old and polished wood wouldn't go that colour in such a short time imo.

It looks like the clock at this Collectors Weekly link. https://images.app.goo.gl/mXB2ikbd8Ba9HkNe8

Sadly, when I click 'visit' I can't see the clock details.

Yes, that is the clock. As I suspected, it was up for auction. Found it in ebay sold listings. And yes, the clock is ~100+ years old, late 1800s early 1900s, and extremely dry/dusty. The original poster has since posted an image of the cleaned/oiled clock, and it did clean up well. The same grassy/stalk appears on the right, and looks more like cat-tail, but the carvings/theme are all over the place, so not sure how/why cat tails fit with fern, dog house, dog and ivy. It's an extremely odd pairing.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/315905448719

Glad you sorted it out.

Plants and animals had symbolism. Pineapples were traditionally used to mean hospitality/welcoming. But they also symbolized fertility. Victorians thought Ivy symbolized fidelity and enduring love. Dogs are also a sign of fidelity. Different ferns have different readings, but one is happiness.

Since clocks were often wedding presents, my reading is your clock has a bunch of symbolism around marriage: that the couple is faithful to each other, has enduring love and the marriage is fruitful and happy. If you read it that way, all the symbols align to one theme.

What pops out of the little window? A man and a woman, possibly dressed as bride and groom?

I don't think it's that complicated. German cuckoo clocks just show plants and objects familiar to the farmers who carved them in the winters when they had time on their hands. The plants are all local to the areas where they were made and they often added hunting motifs like dogs, guns and game. The weights were often shaped as spruce cones. There's no pineapple on this clock.

Youre reading way more into it that any cuckoo clock I've ever seen. They're just nice carving of real world natural objects, and don't involve much symbolism. Generally all carvings of items native to the Black Forest and Bavaria.

Anyway, I've given up on determining what the plant truly was. I didn't mean to put much thought into it, I just figured someone on these forums might be able to look at it and immediately identify.

Late to this, but it looks like a pineapple in front of another plant that looks like some type of grain - so 2 things, not one...?

I think we've pretty much established that pineapple is extremely unlikely. If it is one, this clock would appear to be unique among cuckoo clocks.