Grasping Sedge

"The Ars Riverboat Tour Company encourages passengers to take advantage of our large selection of foods and beverages on-board, inside the cabin. Although you can surely stay on deck and enjoy the natural beauty of the historic Faerie Fen, passengers are strongly discouraged from looking too closely into the water."

- from the Ars Riverboat Company tour pamphlet, distributed with all ferry tickets

Basic Information

Anatomy

Like most sedges, the Grasping Sedge consists of thin triangular green stalks. It is halfway between its (presumed) direct ancestor, Carex Aquatilis or Water Sedge, and other sedges in forming both wide mats and mounded clumps. Academics presume this variance relates to the plant's access to food, as some mounded clump-mats found in the Faerie Fen strongly resemble the outlines of Humans or other animals found in the fen.
Sometimes, it has pretty little yellow flowers.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Most sedges are nice, normal plants that photosynthesize. Not the Grasping Sedge. It feeds on the nutrients produced by decaying organic matter. To put it bluntly: the plant eats corpses.
Grasping Sedge typically grows underwater or in thick mud. It "grasps" onto its unlucky victims' feet as they attempt to move away, tripping them facedown into the water/mud, whereupon more stalks wrap around the unfortunate's limbs and body. Victims quickly suffocate, beginning the decay process. The Grasping Sedge burrows into the decaying matter with rhizomatic roots, which create the plant's characteristic wrinkled mats.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Anti-Demon crusaders charge that demonic cultivation, not random magical mutation, is to blame for the Grasping Sedge. Belphagorians are well-known for their affinity with flora, though this is typically concentrated on species that can be eaten rather than the opposite. The Ars Council denies these claims as "baseless speculation" and "further examples of anti-demon propaganda" but allows that they do utilize the plant as part of Ars's border defenses.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The Grasping Sedge, much to the relief of field botanists across Flimflam, appears limited to the Faerie Fen itself. It is speculated that the high concentration of ambient magic in the fen's waters caused the initial mutations that nature has continued to carry forward.

Average Intelligence

Despite their terrifying hunting method, the Grasping Sedge is not considered intelligent. If its prey stands still for long enough, avoiding disturbing the water/mud around the planet, the stalks are known to go limp, as if the plant "thinks" its prey is gone. Swift, decisive action at that key moment is the only reliable strategy for getting free from a Grasping Sedge.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Grasping Sedge reacts to disturbances in the water or mud that it grows in. When pressure increases, suggesting that a body of significant weight has entered the area, Grasping Sedge's stalks engage the prehensile movement the plant was named for.

Scientific Name

Carex Cyperaceae

Origin/Ancestry

Carex Aquatilis

Lifespan

Unknown

Average Height

12-20 inches

Geographic Distribution

• Faerie Fen

by ButNoCigar