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Description

Grasses took on many unique adaptations to fill the role of trees on MESW; one of the most interesting of these being gas-filled leaves which float like balloons tethered to the plants. The superphylum which encompasses these plants is called cavifoli (hollow leaf). Anything from winds to damage to the tethers can cause cavifoli leaves to float away from the plant, drifting into the sky and providing an enriching feature to almost any MESWian landscape. The gasses contained within the leaves are produced and regulated by symbiotic bacteria which exist within the plant from its beginning as a spore. For a spore to be fertile, it must connect with a spore of the other sex. This connection can be made across a distance of up to 60cm; spores sensing eachother through the soil and growing thin roots between.

The three orders here were chosen to represent a few prominent forms cavifolis can take, though these are far from all.

Condylacrae- features a knotted mass of branch bases suspended above the ground by a trunk. As with most cavifoli orders, the “wood” of these plants is resemblant in many ways to the wood of earth trees and has similar evolutionary origins, but is much smoother and could even be mistaken for stone.

Helicocorma- a relatively small order with rougher bark, these plants rarely have prominent branches, instead merely a trunk of spiraling walls which grow into a cone shape. These plants mostly inhabit open plains and savannas.

Polycaulus- an order containing some species most closely resemblant to Earthly trees. Many stems and a dense, vaguely conical formation is typical of these plants. They most commonly populate forests.

Description

Grasses took on many unique adaptations to fill the role of trees on MESW; one of the most interesting of these being gas-filled leaves which float like balloons tethered to the plants. The superphylum which encompasses these plants is called cavifoli (hollow leaf). Anything from winds to damage to the tethers can cause cavifoli leaves to float away from the plant, drifting into the sky and providing an enriching feature to almost any MESWian landscape. The gasses contained within the leaves are produced and regulated by symbiotic bacteria which exist within the plant from its beginning as a spore. For a spore to be fertile, it must connect with a spore of the other sex. This connection can be made across a distance of up to 60cm; spores sensing eachother through the soil and growing thin roots between.

The three orders here were chosen to represent a few prominent forms cavifolis can take, though these are far from all.

Condylacrae- features a knotted mass of branch bases suspended above the ground by a trunk. As with most cavifoli orders, the “wood” of these plants is resemblant in many ways to the wood of earth trees and has similar evolutionary origins, but is much smoother and could even be mistaken for stone.

Helicocorma- a relatively small order with rougher bark, these plants rarely have prominent branches, instead merely a trunk of spiraling walls which grow into a cone shape. These plants mostly inhabit open plains and savannas.

Polycaulus- an order containing some species most closely resemblant to Earthly trees. Many stems and a dense, vaguely conical formation is typical of these plants. They most commonly populate forests.