Sunleaf

The sunleaf split from its ancestor within the sunstalks and has gone on to be highly successful. While it has not driven the fermi sunstalk to extinction it has driven it from the tundra and is more common in the high desert and beach biomes.The biggest difference between it and its close relatives is that while sunstalks have a long stalk ending in a crown of leaves surrounding a spore chamber the sunleaf has a tiny stalk, from which a circle of upward pointing leaves grow and, during reproduction, grows a long thin stalk topped with a spore chamber. The leap is not as far as it looks, The short stalk is homologous with the long stalk of the sustalks and the long stalk is derived from the short region between the leaves and spore chamber. The spore chamber (and its stalk which elevates it above the leaves) is only temporary, growing annually for reproduction and then being reabsorbed. Its spore chamber rises 10 cm above it when reproducing. Like all sunstalks it can regrow from the bulb if damaged or snowed under.