Viz Harridan
The Humble Hermit
Ploxum Angelitalis (Jack-in-The-Bush)
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To provide a plant specifically for the planet Epica to use as a medical resource and export, but also as a large piece of folk medicine and lore.
- Image Credit: Art by Isaac Benjamin, Via Art Station
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
Links: N/A
- Name: Ploxum Angelitalis (Common Name: Jack-In-The-Bush)
- Origins: Epica
- Other Locations: N/A
- Classification: Flowering Tree Fruit
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Kingdom: Plantae Clade: Tracheophytes Clade: Angiosperms Clade: Eudicots Clade: Rosids Order: Myrtales Family: Lythraceae Genus: Ploxum Species: P. granatum
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- Average Growth Cycle: The Tree of the Ploxum Angelitalis takes 5 - 6 Epican Sun Cycles to grow from sapling to fruit bearing age.
- Viability: The plant must be grown underground and can have no light until it flowers. It must be consistently pruned. Once it does flower, exposure to light must be limited until harvest, at which point it can survive for a limited amount of time. Placement in a root cellar or dark and cool area will extend the life of the harvested fruit or seeds. The fruit will spoil after two weeks if kept this way, Seeds for two years. . Flowers should be dried immediately as they will not be viable upon picking.. Ploxum Angelitis needs soil that is damp and consistently watered.
- Description:
- Flowers/Blossoms: White with Yellow Stamen and internal seed sack.
- Fruit: indigo with yellow meat and small stone pith.
- Tree: six feet with gnarled trunk and glossy green- black foliage.
- Average Height:
- Tree: 1.8 m
- Flower: 7.6 cm
- Fruit: 10.2cm
- Average Length: N/A
- Color:
- Flowers/Blossoms: White with Yellow Stamen in 6 small diametric buds.
- Fruit (Jack): indigo thick skin with an inside of yellow meat and small stone pith and stringy pulp.
- Tree: six feet with gnarled trunk and glossy green- black foliage.
- Nutritional Value:
- Fruit: beneficial in vitamin content and known for healthful properties, potent source of necessary nutrients to fight off illnesses.
- Toxicity: N/A
- Other Effects:
- The Jack (Fruit) of this tree can and should be eaten and its pit can be ground for medicinal uses. The Seeds of the Blossom ( Shoha), while not toxic, are a powerful psychoactive narcotic which can assist in pain relief if used in small quantities. The blossoms themselves (Shoha-nal) , when dried, can be ingested and, when consumed with the Shoha (Shoxanuthal (Shox)) produce an intoxication effect which rivals that of Glitterstim at its base level. When smoked or injected the intoxication is faster and more potent.
- Reactions and Effects of Shox:
- Burns when taken via injection, sublingually or snorted.
- Feelings of Euphoria and Elation followed by burst of energy
- Heavy crash resulting in lethargy.
- In some cases, with a heavier dose, partakers hallucinate with visions that have been described as surreal and abstract, but unclear and unfocused.
- Distinctions:
- The glossy black foliage on compact tree of the Ploxum Angelitalis grow black, and as this tree must grow in a complete absence of light, it is easily identified. The bark of the tree is a petrified gray brown of interconnected gnarls, and the indigo fruit and white blossoms which grow stand out remarkably.
- Average Height:
- Plant can be used for Medicinal, Nutritional and Psychedelic Purposes
- Ploxum Angelitalis can be used as a base resource for the formatting of materials to buy trade or export.
- The plant is a large part of Ville culture and practice of Canny Women of the Villes.
- Ploxum Angelitalis is a potent drug which could be mis-constructed and used of leverage or barter within organizations of ill intent and repute.
- Misuse of Ploxum Angelitalis in its Shox form can do more harm to the general population than good if not regulated.
Originally discovered in the Matriscan Mountains by the Canny Women (also known as Wool Witches) of the Villes, the Ploxum Angelitalis ( an Angiosperm from the Family Ebenaceae) grows only in the absence of light. If it hadn’t been for the Canny Women of a bygone era, none of these plants would have been discovered and transplanted into underground arboretums sprinkled in proximity to most Villes on Epica. The locations of these warmhouse arboretums is known only to the Canny Women, and passed down through matrilineal apprenticeship, their care and keeping taking years to learn and more to propagate.
Known commonly to Wool Witches as a Jack-in-the-Bush, the Ploxum Angelitalis has a wide variety of uses laid out here:
Tree: The Tree of the Ploxum Angelitalis takes 5 - 6 Epican years to grow from sapling to
fruit bearing age. Its leaves are a glossy black color and known to store copious
Amounts of water from the constantly damp soil the tree grows in.
Blossom (Shoha-nal): The blossoms grow white with yellow stamen and seed sacs within
the bulb of the flower. The blossoms can only be picked 5-10 days from the time the tree flowers and must be dried or preserved immediately.
Seeds of The Blossom (Shoha): The seeds must be harvested from the blossoms within the
first hour or lose viability. They can be preserved or dried. The Seeds on their own and whole are a very powerful narcotic which assists in pain relief and numbing.
When combined then dried, the Shoha-nal and Shoha form a compound called Shoxanuthal which when liquified or powdered forms the drug Shox. Shox is an ellicit substance and can be extremely potent and potentially lethal in large quantities.
Fruit (The Jack) : The Jack is the only widely sold part of the tree, and is used in all the
villages as a restorative, just like with all parts of the tree, it can only be sold out of direct light. The pit of the fruit is used to make salves and ointments for healing and is a point of common households, even those without a background in healing. The fruit can only be sold by its cultivators, The Canny Women of the Villes.
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