Bounding Plyentwort

The Bounding Plyentwort split from its ancestor in the Vivus subcontinent. Winter in the Blocks Temperate River and Blocks Salt Marsh creates a special challenge for Plyentworts in the subcontinent. Photosynthesis becomes less effective due to a lack of sunlight and frozen riparian mud is tough to dig up for edible detritus. Xenowasps, Dartirs and other scavengers are less active as well. The Bounding Plyentwort has evolved a special strategy for this problem: migration.

As the weather turns colder Bounding Plyentworts make their way north along the Blocks Temperate Riparian. Before Vivus Peak they will turn east, crossing the rocky Vivus Volcanic to reach the warm waters of the Viridian Hot Springs. Here geothermal energy creates pools of water in green obsidian which stay near 38 degrees Celsius year-round. These waters teem with thermophile organisms and their remains, which the Bounding Plyentworts can feed on. While less common than other minerals, iron is also present in the waters of the Viridian Hot Springs. This allows Bounding Plyentworms to use modified chlorophyll which is chemically identical to hemoglobin. This creates a strong scent of carpozoan blood from their saliva. From high up in the Vivus Volcanic this smell is carried far by the rising hot, moist air of the hot springs and spread far. Scavengers and hemovores from far away are attracted to the Viridian Hot Springs and the awaiting mouths of Bounding Plyentworts.

The Bounding Plyentwort is able to traverse the rocky path between the Blocks Temperate Riparian and Viridian Hot Springs thanks to its specialized limbs. The legs of a Bounding Plyentwort are shaped like long sickles. When downward pressure is applied to this large piece of wood by the leg muscles of the organism, energy is stored in the bending of the wood along the lower curve. When pressure is released the wood springs back into shape, propelling the Bounding Plyentwort forwards. Spikey growths along the bottom of these limbs help the Plyentwort grip the ground both when building up energy for a bound or when landing. When movement is not needed the organism can slowly lower itself, spreading its limbs out. This allows it to lower itself into shallow waters, where its tufts of long woody bristles can collect mud and detritus for absorption. The Bounding Plyentwort can also tip its body backwards to dip its mouth into the water. River and wetland scavengers like Spineless Toadtuga tadpoles and Muckwater Fraboos, drawn by the smell of blood, will then wander in and be eaten. When competition for sunlight increases the organism will generally stay upright and may even move when this alone is not enough.

As winter in the Vivus Subcontinent turns to spring the female Bounding Plyentworts will migrate back to the rivers and marshlands first. After these females have had time to return the male Plyentworts will await westward and southwestward winds to release their spores into. These hardy spores are carried far away into the awaiting mouths of female Bounding Plyentworts, which fertilize the spores. These too are ejected high into the air, though nowhere near as far as their spore forms. In their juvenile form Bounding Plyentworts have three large spoon-shaped limbs made of very thin wood which act as parachutes to slow their descent. Using its singular eye and leaves a juvenile can steer itself in the air to land in the water. Using their developing limbs to swim, they will make their way to the shallows.

Unlike the Leafy Plyentwort the Bounding Plyentwort retains its single eye past the juvenile stage. Although quite simple, the organ assists it in navigating during the yearly migration to the Viridian Hot Springs.