Rhaleng (Rrah-LEHNG)

Rhaleng, or the sweet shrub, is a hardy shrub with an edible berry-like fruit and an edible sap, native to Lexicon's harsh and frigid tundras.

Basic Information

Biological Traits

It is a shrub/dwarf tree that grows up to 0.20–0.32 meters. Its growth form spans from suckering and forming colonies to clumped. The leaves and trunk are a purplish-black in color. The trunk is very wide, being
The leaves are quite large and large, with the leaves 30.4–38.1 cm long and 22.8–30.4 cm broad, on a 0.5–2 cm leaf stem, in order to soak up Roalas's dim light. In addition to that, the leaves and the flowers fold up in the night and only unfurl themselves during the twenty-seven day period when Roalas is in the sky.
The edible fruit is a small purple pome 20–25 mm in diameter, and has a waxy bloom. The berries have a rather sweet and nutty taste. Additonally, rhaleng has an edible, sweet-tasting sap.
The flowers are deep purple with five quite separate petals and five sepals. In they are about – cm across, with 20 stamens and five styles, appearing on short racemes of , somewhat crowded together, and blooms only when Roalas is at full fixed height in the sky and the period when Roalas is slowly moving in the sky. The time between flower to fruit or planting to harvest is very short, as it takes full advantage of the days in which Roalas is in the sky to fruit and to reproduce. It also grows very rapidly. Like all of Lexiconian life, Rhaleng also has the ability of charging, so it can support and nourish itself during the next twenty-seven days when Roalas isn't in the sky.

Additional Information

Uses, Products & Exploitation

The berries are a staple and important food source for Lexiconians, who harvest the berries, as well as for Kcedhu who eat the wide leaves. They make a wide variety of food using it, usually to add sweetness in food.
Additonally, to add to the sweetness, the sap of Rhaleng is edible and is sweet-tasting. Rhaleng is tapped by drilling holes into their trunks and collecting the sap, which is processed by heating to evaporate much of the water, leaving the concentrated Rhaleng syrup. Rhaleng syrup can only be collected when Roalas is at full height, because it is when the sap moves intensively. Plus from rhaleng syrup, they can make rhaleng sugar and rhaleng taffy. These three, along with the berries, are the only natural source of sugar and sweetness for the Lexiconians, thus giving rhaleng the moniker of the 'sweet shrub'. Consequently, rhaleng is an common pet name and term of endearment amongst Lexiconians, much like how we would use 'darling', 'honey'.
They also use the berries as a source of dye, which produces a deep purple in color.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Rhaleng is found scattered all over Lexicon's frigid and harsh tundras but is mostly concentrated in the valleys of the low mountain ranges and nearby the mountain ranges

Average Height

0.20 - 0.32 m