Viper Ivy
Uses:
Viper Ivy is harvested for its sap produced during it's flowering stage. The sap is then refined down and makes for a potent poison, used by assassins and individuals with less than altruistic values.Basic Information
Anatomy
Viper Ivy can be identified by its light green leaves lobed with three distinct spikes, often looking like a viper with its fangs bare. Viper Ivy is a climbing vine, wrapping it's way around its host with a dark brown stem. The leaves are mainly arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are borne on the ends of stems or in upper leaf axils, usually a single bright red flower. The five petals are fused at the base forming a trumpet shape that is bright red on the outside and yellow on the inside. The flower also produces two dark green Stigma that also tend to look like a set of fangs from a viper.
Genetics and Reproduction
A parasitic vine that attaches itself to its host at the base, tapping into the host's xylem and feeding on the nutrients the host brings up from its root system. As it climbs higher and higher in it's host it branches out to the host's neighbors via tendrils. Eventually, these tendrils become severed and the separated plant becomes its own example.
Growth Rate & Stages
A fast-growing vine, the Viper Ivy dies back each winter, having to establish itself each year. During the first few warm months of the year, the plant shoots out its stems quickly relying on its host for nutrients. Later in the year, it starts bearing leaves allowing it to better metabolize the stolen resources from the host. This allows for the plant to flower and produce it's tendrils that are sent out to neighbouring trees.
Ecology and Habitats
Found only in the most northern reaches of the The Azeral Empire the Viper Ivy is often found attached to a host tree. It prefers trees that grow to be tall, usually species of trees that make up the forest canopy as it allows for the Ivy to spread easier.
Biological Cycle
In spring, the shoots that are still attached to a living host sprout up, sending vines high up into the canopy. As the temperature warms leaves form. In mid-summer, it begins to flower. Shortly after the vine sends out tendrils looking for nearby trees to propagate itself. Once a new host is found, the tendril makes its way down the trunk toward the base, eventually establishing a xylem bridge into the new host. Once cold weather hits, the vines and tendrils die off, leaving both trees infected with Viper Ivy.
Scientific Name
Bignoniaceae Pandorea Vulgare
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