Sweetflowers

Sweetflowers are tiny, clustered pink flowers that grow in the Frontier's grasslands. They're commonly used in traditional medicine and are thought to be affiliated with magic.

Basic Information

Anatomy

This pink flower has many petals and grows in tall clusters, on a rounded, narrow stem with serrated leaves, and can reach up to two and a half feet tall.

Growth Rate & Stages

With proper sunlight and water, a sweetflower plant will go from a sprout to its full height in about a week and a half.

Ecology and Habitats

Sweetflower is found growing wild in the grasslands of the Frontier. It grows so quickly to compete with local tall grasses for sunlight. Ever since ancient times, people have noticed that herbivores that eat it tend to grow larger than members of the same species that don't, so it's a common additive to animal feed.

Biological Cycle

It's a perennial, so when the plant dies in the winter, the roots go dormant until the spring. The first sweetflower blooms of the year are a sign of spring.

Additional Information

Domestication

It is farmed, where it has been bred for larger, pinker flower clusters.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

• Most domesticated herd animals on the Frontier follow nomadic tribes and graze on wild grasses, but if that's not an option, sweetflower is added to commercial animal feed.
• The flowers and leaves are dried into cooking herbs, and have a woody, earthy flavor that pairs excellently with honey, and is common in Frontier stews and sweet breads.
• All parts of the flower are used in traditional Z'hratian medicine. Poultices made from it helps to stop bleeding. The color pink is associated with magic, so the flower is thought to increase magical affinity and grant precognative dreams. Due to its association with large animals, the herb is often fed to small children to help them grow, and it's thought to help enlarge, um, other things.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Across the grasslands in the Frontier, although some scragglier types live in the mountains. It can also be found farmed.

Lifespan

Perennial, 3 years.

Conservation Status

Normal. The people of the Frontier are careful not to harvest too much from the wild. They have been cultivated by some of the Tribes in order to meet urban demand.

Average Height

1.5 feet

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

The flowers are a light pastel pink with a salmon tone to it, but there are less common pale orange and white ones as well.

Geographic Distribution

• The Frontier