Bonegrove

The bonegrove evolved from a population of branching bonespires that ventured too close to the salty shoreline of the beach. After millions of years of struggling to survive on the salty, waterlogged shorelines of Fermi Temperate Coast, they finally managed to gain enough adaptations to gain a foothold, giving rise to the dense forests that line much of Fermi Temperate Coast's shoreline. The bonegrove has changed considerably in its bid to colonize Fermi Temperate Coast's shoreline. The first and most noticeable of these is its adventitious roots, which hoists the bonegrove above the waterline. These roots are covered in lenticels that allow it to extract nitrogen from the air, which are then processed into a usable form by nitrocycle microbes. It has grown smaller as a means to make itself lighter and thus, easier for its roots to support. In order to survive the increased salt levels, the bonegrove also possesses more leaves and in turn, has greater photosynthetic capabilities than its ancestor. These extra leaves also have a secondary purpose, in which old leaves will be slowly loaded with salt and be shed when the leaf has reached maximum capacity. The leaf will then be replaced. During the winter, all of these leaves undergo this function while the bonegrove hibernates. These leaves will then be shed in the spring and give rise to a new set of foliage. The bonegrove reproduces in the latter days of spring. Their reproductive method is extremely similar to that of its ancestors'. However, the bonegrove relies on the coastal nectarworm as its pollinator instead of the nectarworm due to their increased frequency along Fermi Temperate Coast. Their nuts have changed drastically. Instead of being nutritious and filled with tiny seeds, the bonegrove's nuts are nutrient-poor and filled with only one, large seed. This seeds reach maturity during the early summer and fall into the water, where they germinate into propagules that will float along the coast until they hit an area suitable for setting down roots. The propagule will then become a sapling and rapidly grow into a 2-3 meter tall tree with enough leaves to survive the winter. Any sapling that fails to gain enough leaves will freeze to death during the winter. The bonegrove has dramatically changed the ecology of Fermi Temperate Beach and Fermi Temperate Coast by erecting a barrier between the two. However, the flumpus often breaks down this barrier by knocking down adult bonegroves and crushing saplings that grow near their colonies. This barrier affects the seashrog particularly badly, as seashrogs must navigate a prickly labyrinth of adventitious roots and trunks to reach the shore. While this isn't too much of a problem for visiting seashrogs, those who need to build new rafts find it impossible to push their rafts out to sea. While they can clear segments of the mangrove, it often proves to be too annoying and time-consuming to complete. Meanwhile, pushing their rafts through the clearings created by flumpus colonies almost always end in failure, as the seashrogs pushing their raft out to sea are either chased off or killed by aggressive male flumpuses. This leaves the majority of the Fermian seashrog population stranded on Fermi, with only the most determined seashrogs making it off the island.