Graveyard Tree

The graveyard tree split off from the crystal oak and moved into Krakow Rocky where it replaced its relative, the southern crystal tree. The 'fruit' and photosynthesizing crystals of the graveyard tree are now different colors. The photosynthesizing crystals are a duller, darker color as they take in more of the light than its ancestor did. It also uses light concentrated in the middle crystal to keep itself warm during colder seasons. The fruits are now bright red to attract the attention of herbivores and are quite sweet to taste. The trunk of the graveyard tree has also become a darker color and is tougher than the trunk of its ancestor.

The graveyard tree reproduces in a different way than its direct ancestor, it now releases airborne spores from the main photosynthesizing crystal like other crystal flora in addition to special spores in the fruits. These spores are special in that they work differently than other crystal tree spores. The spores inside the fruits consist of a bunched up harder part surrounded by a soft part with hairs which can stick to the inside of creature's esophagus or stomach. In a very small percentage of the fruits the harder part of the spores is very compressed. These are the spores which will grow into new plants.

When a creature eats one of these sweet 'fruits' the spores will attach to its esophagus and stomach walls. After a short time, the hard part of the spores will expand rapidly into sharp spikes. These spikes break the walls of the stomach and esophagus, killing the creature very quickly with its own stomach acids and by choking it. Smaller creatures are killed outright while larger ones die longer, more painful deaths. The spores then grow in the body of the creature and develop into a photosynthesizing crystal. The crystal produced in this manner grows with a flat portion facing the direction of the sunrise and facing the sunset with the opposite flat section, causing it to look like a tombstone. A graveyard tree will usually be surrounded by a few of these 'tombstones'. The 'tombstones' will not grow into full trees but produce airborne spores containing different genetic information than its parent tree's spores. The two kinds of spores will mix in the air and produce spores which can then grow into new graveyard trees, increasing the genetic diversity of the species.

Not very many creatures actually die eating the candied sweet 'fruit' as the trees do not produce killer spores all the time, but only in certain seasons, so all creatures who would eat the 'fruits' still do so. The photosynthesizing crystals are too hard to eat and have a very foul taste, so nothing eats them with better, easier food nearby.