Watching-lily

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Watching-lilies are an extinct flower once native to the Dragonback mountains that featured prominently in magefolk art and legends.

Biology and Appearance

Watching-lilies were small flowers that had large pointed petals and a visible seed head. At the beginning of maturity, these seeds were white all around, but as they matured, the seeds turned brown and black from the inside to the outside. A flower in its prime had an eye-like coloration, with white on the outside, brown in the middle, and black on the inside. The black seeds were edible and had healing properties when applied to injuries as a paste. The brown seeds acted as mild anasthetic, but the white seeds were inedible, causing nausea and drowsiness. The stem was a dark green color with small leaves at the base. The flowers bloomed year after year in the same place, growing in clusters of 3-6 flowers.

Habitat

Watching-lilies bloomed in sunny areas on the foothils of the Dragonback mountains. They were cultivated by the first magefolk settlers when they were discovered to have healing properties. They grew best in the well-watered climate on the windward side of the mountains.

Culture and History

When the first magefolk arrived in what is now Marisen, the people took interest in the Watching-lilies. Soon after, watching-lilies became common in magefolk art as a symbol of the all-knowing and healing goddess Nyx. Even today, magefolk scholars of medicine paint the symbol of an eye surrounded by petals, a remnant of this fascination with the watching-lily. Watching-lilies were plentiful in the early days of the magefolk wars, however when the Iksandi people chased the magefolk into the mountains, they burned the land, killing many of the watching-lilies. The few that remained were cultivated again, but the second wave of attacks seemed to have killed them all off.

EXTINCT

Lifespan
2-5 years (perennial)

Scientific Name

Ocuan Tetous