Xenophytes

"Xenophytes" is technically not the name of a species, but an umbrella term for all photosynthesizing, extraterrestrial organisms. In common usage however the phrase, often shortened to simply "phytes", it refers to the edible species of algea-like single celled organisms found on Toliman Prime.
Before the colonization of Toliman Prime, the xenophytes were investigated as a possible health hazard or maybe a source of nutrition. Luckily, they turned out to be the latter. While evolutionary biologists were intrigued by the implications of this compatibility, the talk across Alpha Centauri was all about the taste, a funky umami sort of flavor.
Xenophytes stick together to a slimy film that covers the rock surface. To prepare them for consumption, it is dried and ground into a powder. Over the years, Centaurian cooks have included phyte powder into all manner of dishes. Perhaps most popular are phyte chips, a ubiquitous street food attained by deep frying a phyte powder dough.
For a while, phyte powder was considered a luxury food back in the Sol system. Eventually though, an enterprising botanist from Sharov's World figured out how to keep a batch of xenophytes alive over the journey to Sol, and they are now mass produced in orbital hydroponics above Venus.

Geographic Distribution

• Toliman Prime