Bonespire

Splitting from its ancestor, the bonespires have come to grow massive indeed, towering high over the desert landscapes they inhabit. Because of this great increase in size, their spines have shrunken considerably due to lack of necessity for large ones, though to compensate these spines have instead become much more numerous in order to ward off whatever herbivore may attempt to feed off this flora. Those few herbivores that manage to pass through this spiny defense must then come across another: the tough, fibrous "wood" that makes up the trunk of this flora is thick to prevent water loss. Said bark provides another defense, as its pale white color helps to reflect sunlight. A dense, spreading root system lies just beneath the sand, helping to secure these giants in place, as well as the stabilize the ground it grows out of. Because of this smaller flora that typically fair poorly in loose sand are able to thrive around the bases of these giants, thus furthering the stabilization of the ground. Also, because of this increased stabilization of the ground, oasis have also become far more common, resulting in an overall increase of fresh water on Fermi Island, which the bonespires and other flora quite eagerly exploit.

All these changes pale to what could be considered one of the greatest in the evolutionary line of this species, the production of seeds. No longer reliant on the mass production of spores, the bonespires instead produce hardy seeds from within the flowering tops, which are pollinated by various small fauna like desert-dwelling xenobees and dartirs, which are attracted with a pungent, if somewhat rancid odor. Once pollination is completed, these flora produce encapsulated seeds which are carried off in the blowing winds. Said seeds are incredibly small, and are released in a cloud of there even smaller, spore-like unfertilized brethren, creating a haze-like cloud that drifts for a time. After some time, anywhere from several hours to even days depending on how strong the wind is, they will eventually settle down, whereupon they quickly take root and prepare to grow. They remain dormant until the rains come, or until sufficient water is present. Not all will make it, as the desert heat is a fierce opponent, but those that do manage to germinate will eventually give rise to a new floral giant that will join with others in steadily increasing, if somewhat sparse, forests that have now begun to cover the majority of the island.

Slowly, ever so slowly, it would seem that these towering titans are transforming the dry desert land of Fermi into something akin to a verdant savanna, an act that will likely take thousand of years should nothing major interfere.