Moon Tree
Moon trees are magical plants that turn barren caverns into fairy forests. After the great cataclysm, Eyuna, god of splendor, gifted them to the Sidhe so they could survive underground. While some plants feed off aether and others are either passively or actively carnivorous, no other documented plants do both. This allows moon trees to produce sunlight instead of requiring it. Saying they are a miracle doesn't do justice to these amazing trees.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Moon trees have many of the characteristics of trees that evolved above ground. Unlike them, their unique method of energy production makes them neither deciduous nor evergreen. Moon trees have a set of leaf-like structures that grow in a spiral around long drooping vine-like branches. These teal or purple-colored structures glow brightly during the day due to a complex aetherio-chemical process. In addition, they have green leaves that use that light the same way above-ground trees use sunlight. These ovoid green leaves grow to between four and five inches. Like those on evergreen trees, the leaves neither turn colors nor fall off during the winter months.
This species has medium-sized trunks and narrow canopies. Their bark is thin and pale in color. As trees age, areas will flake off revealing the darker purple hewed sapwood. This in turn weathers to a lighter hue giving the tree a delicate mottled appearance.
Moon trees enter a dormant period during winter (except for the first moon tree). Spring sees the trees reawakening with new growth and delicate lilac-colored five-petaled blossoms. These develop into seedless "fruit". This fruit is enticingly sweet and toxic. As the fruit matures, the blossom's sepal grows into flesh-ripping barbs.
As part of the root system, moon trees have specialized rhizomes. These structures loop up at various points. They contain a fair bit of sugar and the tree's toxin. The exposed rhizomes develop sharp thorns along their surface strong enough to hold a large rat.
Genetics and Reproduction
Moon trees reproduce solely by clonal buds off of rhizomes. Specialized structures travel underground and send out shoots and roots. If the spot is good for growth a new tree might develop. Farms and other rural settings encourage these shoots. In contrast, city gardeners remove any shoots from town squares before they can grow into trees. When towns and cities choose to grow new trees, they use cuttings.
Ecology and Habitats
Moon trees are unusual maybe even unique in the plant world. Their main source of "food" is aether. This they turn into sunlight which they use to grow like any other plant. Somehow the artificial sunlight they produce leaves significant gaps in the trees' nutrition. This is filled by decomposing matter seeping into the ground around its roots.
While any decomposing animal matter will fill the nutritional gaps, their poison seems specifically geared to larger animals. An average-sized fruit can kill a gaveru deer or a nearly full-grown Sidhe. The poison in the plants' rhizomes is weaker. About half an ounce will kill a small rat. Their thorns mean the animal must first extricate itself to leave the area giving the poison time to work.
Once an animal is killed the moon tree does nothing further to it. The natural process of decomposition begins. Bugs, fungi, and other decomposers turn the carcass into nutrients that seep into the surrounding soil.
Obviously inside a town or city, this process is hampered. Fruit is removed lest it fall into little hands and animals big and small are discouraged from city gardens. Instead, these trees are fed special mulches that contain partially and completely decomposed animal matter.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
A moon tree would seem to have no greater perception than any other tree except for when it lights up. A moon tree starts to glow at about dawn and stops at approximately dusk. This wouldn't be remarkable except almost all of them grow underground in the Sidhe vaults. They aren't detecting sun through their leaves like other plants who respond to solar cycles. However the length of their day matches that of the world above ground. Scientists have yet to come up with a theory that adequately explains how the trees know how long current daylight hours are.
Conservation Status
It is illegal for non-sidhe to possess any plant material for the purpose of growing a moon tree. No moon trees may be grown outside the Sidhe vaults on Lapansi. Special dispensation has been granted to the Keldin of the Grand Arboretum to maintain their small grove of trees planted as a goodwill gesture before the law was enacted.
Geographic Distribution
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