Cartainpalm

The cartainpalm split from its ancestor, becoming more terrestrial and tree-like and taking on a palm-like form. It is a small sun-loving tree which prefers to grow in open areas largely away from more leafy competitors that would easily outshade it. It prefers fertile soil but can tolerate sandy conditions, and on beaches it usually grows above the high tide line. As a type of true violetgrass which retains ancestral budding abilities, when one has grown on a fertile spot, it will send out underground stems to bud new cartainpalms, causing the species to take over these patches.

The cartainpalm’s leaves have fewer but larger segments and are much stiffer than its ancestor’s. It retains multiple rows of leaves at a time, though older ones still die over time. As the leaves get so much larger before being shed, the trunk scarring is far more exaggerated and scale-like. In the parts of its range that have cold winters, it sheds its leaves seasonally, but elsewhere it is everpurple.

Like its ancestor, the cartainpalm has seasonal flowers, which require pollination by xenobees or minibees and provide nectar to them. The flowers form a safe crawlspace where these largely defenseless, heavily preyed upon pollinators can hide, which helps encourage them to visit the flowers. It produces many fruits per flower, which are picked and spread by various flying creatures, mostly phlyers and biats.