Arid Ferine

The arid ferine replaced its ancestor the taiga ferine. It has adapted better to the cold arid environments of the polar and mountains. Like its ancestor it will loose its branches in the fall and stay dormant in winter. Once spring comes around it will regrow its branches and bright pink flowers and by late summer will bear its berries. Its purple needles have become sharp clusters of brush-like clumps. This keeps herbivores from its eating its leaves. Its flowers grow out from small stalks at the end of the clumps so nectavores can spread their pollen without getting poked. It depends upon the woolly xenobee to spread its pollen and as a result the woolly xenobee spread to wherever the arid ferine grow. It has been so successful that it replaced its relatives the hibernating carnofern and filterfern in the biomes they share.