Frozenroot
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Frozenroot is a plant species that can be found in the southern ice caps. Little use has been found for this plant, as it provides very few nutrients; the only species that consumes it in any capacity is the iceworm, though only for the purified water that it contains. The plant is most well-known for being a tripping hazard for the few teams of scientists and explorers that have dared to traverse the southern ice caps - though following an incident resulting in the unsolved deaths of an exploration team, such travel has been limited, greatly restricted and often simply outright banned.
Anatomy
Frozenroot is a root vegetable, resembling a tuber in its growing patterns and shape. It melts and re-freezes the ice surrounding it to give itself room to expand and grow, though this is an incredibly slow process. The plant can live for centuries, even millenia, however, and the older members of the species have grown quite large with few natural predators. The species is a lavender-blue colour, with dark greyish-green leaves capable of minimal photosynthesis. At any given point, one of the leaves on the plant is used to store all of the excess salt that the plant picks up from the melted ice, allowing the rest of the plant to have access to fresh, clean water. When this leaf inevitably dies, another leaf on the plant takes on the same role, and more leaves grow back.
Geographic Distribution
I love them and their special salt leaves.