Jack Sandrow
Writer, Character, Invasive Species
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To add to the ecology of New Cov and add more materials for Jack to utilize in his biotech
- Image Credit: Image found here
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
- Name: Butterleaf plant
- Designation: Non-sentient
- Origins: New Cov
- Other Locations: N/A
- Classification: Carnivorous broad-leaf fern
- Average Growth Cycle: 10-50 years while mature; in temperate climes will hibernate over the winter. Perennial and yearly seeding.
- Viability: Type I atmosphere, steady source of water, wholly carnivorous and requires meat to survive.
- Description: Broad, sticky leaves; thin and covered in a miniscule layer of sticky mucus and tiny hairs, they grow thick, fat, and non-sticky when digesting food.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
- Average Height: Leaves are approximately 3 mm thick; they can bulge up to half a meter thick when absorbing and digesting food
- Average Length: Leaves range from 0.6 to 1.9 m wide and tall
- Color:
- Leaves - Dark green with a pale center vein, can partially camouflage on tree bark thanks to its fine hair and flexibility
- Flowers - Soft white with yellow stamen; tiny and almost invisible at night.
- Nutritional Value: None
- Toxicity: None
- Other Effects: On contact, the extremely sticky mucus coating the leaves will adhere and entrap. The plant will begin rapidly folding in on itself to further entrap its prey. Victims will either suffocate, starve, or dehydrate. Once the victim is dead, the plant will begin secreting enzymes to dissolve and digest its prey; these enzymes are capable of chopping up large victims such that individual leaves can entirely swallow a 'bite'. A single leaf can subsume a porg; a single plant has enough leaves to gobble up a humanoid.
- Distinctions: The mucus is extremely sticky; only an acid of 3.5 pH or stronger can dissolve the mucus. The plant naturally secretes this acid in small amounts while digesting its prey; excess acid allows the stickiness to fade, which lets potential prey move on (and possibly be trapped by another leaf).
- Extremely powerful mucus and strong leaves make it almost impossible for prey to escape.
- The leaves are surprisingly durable for their thinness, and highly flexible in order to wrap around trunks of trees to camouflage.
- Almost invisible in its natural habitat on New Cov thanks to the shape and coloration of its leaves.
- Entirely sessile, these plants can only move their leaves, and only then when they are capturing prey.
- A small white flower is necessary for pollination, and this can be noticed and avoided if the potential prey is perceptive enough.
- Slow digestion means it is possible for prey to escape if they are strong enough or determined enough.
- The plant is incapable of directly killing its prey, and must wait for the prey to die before beginning digestion.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
New Cov's forests are infamous for their extremely hostile environment. Many an unwitting person has lost their life by leaning on the wrong tree for a five minute breather. The butterleaf is slow but inexorable, wrapping around its prey and smothering it. Not quite strong enough to outright shatter bone or split muscle, the butterleaf is still strong enough and sticky enough to keep its food still. Once its prey has died, either from exhaustion or starvation, the butterleaf will begin excreting a potent protein-based acid that allows it to dissolve muscle and bone, cutting a 'mouthful' off if the prey is large enough to not be entirely surrounded by the leaf.
A single plant requires a tree large enough to hide upon; a trunk circumference of less than 1.5 meters is insufficient. If a tree is thick enough, it can support multiple plants. The host tree and the plants upon it work in partial symbiosis - the tree enjoys any byproduct of bone and meat that may fall to the ground, and the butterleaf can absorb moisture from the bark and trunk for its water intake.
Each leaf is sticky enough and sturdy enough to resist pulling away and cutting off from the main body. Amputation of a stuck limb or use of high-energy weaponry are the only truly viable methods of freeing oneself from a plant once stuck. The gluey mucus has been harvested for use in handcrafted traps, and the leaves (once dried out) are surprisingly useful as tarps or waterproofing, thanks to their flexibility, stretchiness, and durability.
