Frigid Vesuvianite

The frigid vesuvianite split from its ancestor. It is better-suited to surviving exposure to snow and ice, allowing it to colonize the taiga and polar scrub. Though smaller than its ancestor, it can grow in colder conditions, allowing it to successfully reach full size in polar habitats and higher in the mountains, even encroaching on subalpine altitudes. It competes very successfully with the Pandocrystal, but has not outcompeted it. The frigid vesuvianite has even greater branching of its trunk than its ancestor did. In fact, it would appear almost like it has a single erect trunk completely covered in branches, but this “trunk” is simply a series of upright branches itself. Its other branches slope downwards, allowing snow to slide off. It can grow slightly faster than its ancestor, especially in the polar scrub, due to greater availability of nitrogen. Otherwise, however, it is similar; it takes decades to reach full size but can live for centuries, it reproduces using airborne spores released from dedicated crystals, and it can use detritus as a food source before it reaches full size (the latter also allowing it to grow even in dark polar winters).