Branching Bonespire

The Branching Bonespire split from its ancestor and now grows in small forests around oases alongside its ancestor. A mutation caused branches to grow off of the branching bonespire's trunk, with each branch ending in a set of 'leaves'. This increased its photosynthetic ability. However, it failed to replace its ancestor due to it being shorter than it. Its 'trunk' is now covered in very tiny spikes that are virtually impossible to see. These spikes will break off and lodge into the skin of whatever tries to eat it, causing a persistent stinging sensation. After the spikes dislodge from the trunk, new ones will take their place. In addition to their spikes, the branching bonespire's trunk has grown harder and thicker; to a point in which most herbivores can't break through it.

The branching bonespire evolved night-blooming flowers with thick petals. These petals were the result of another mutation that caused more 'leaves' to grow on top of the flora. These leaves specialized into tough petals that grow around the flower-stalks, which have specialized into many types. When night falls, the flower opens, exposing the flower-stalks. The flower will release a cloud of fragrant particles that are derived from the useless spores that its ancestor releases alongside its seeds. This attracts the nectarworm, a species that has co-evolved with the branching bonespire. if the nectarworm steps on one of the many trigger-hairs that line the nectar-producing flower-stalk, the flower will close, trapping it inside. While the nectarworm struggles to escape, it coats itself in pollen. Thus, when night falls again, the flower will open again and the nectarworm will finally escape, eventually arriving at another branching bonespire and being trapped inside of that branching bonespire's flower, ultimately pollinating the female flower-stalk. The Branching Bonespire's flower-trap has evolved because their flowers only bloom when the nectarworms mature (which is a couple of weeks after a rainstorm) and last for a few days. The flower-trap ensures their pollination and thus allows them to make new branching bonespires.

After the flower is pollinated, it will produce a nut that contains small, hardy seeds. The nut contains enough nutrients for it to attract frugivores, primarily snapflaggs, which eat these nuts. The seeds themselves are tough enough to survive the digestive tracts of whatever eats them. This carries the seeds far from the parent bonespire, and hopefully it will take root and grow into a new branching bonespire. Nuts that are not eaten will eventually decay and release their seeds into the soil, with one of the seeds growing into a new branching bonespire. Seeds that are deposited near oases fare better than ones that are deposited in the middle of the desert. Other than that, the branching bonespire is the same as its ancestor, and because it possesses the same root system, it also stabilizes the desert's soil and in turn, helps terraform Fermi desert.