Sapprong

The sapprong lives 3 km to 4.1 km above sea level. It has two more branches than its ancestor. One of the branches, the central one, produces a sap-like exudate (secretion) that attracts sapworms. To humans, the exudate smells like blueberries, but more importantly it's full of aromatic compounds sapworms use to find sap. The sapworms are tricked into thinking the exudate is sap. Once they land, they are trapped by the viscous, syrupy secretion and slowly digested by citric acid-based enzymes. Some frugivorous species of xenobees and cloudswarmers may also be lured in and digested, but not in the same numbers as the sapworms. This is partly because of the specific chemicals in the aroma of the sapprong's secretion, and partly because sapworms fly in huge swarms. The sapprong produces its exudate from late spring to late summer. This coincides with the times sapworms are likely to be flying about. As they are feeding on sapworms (or other flying organisms), they convert excess nitrogen to glutamate, which they store in their roots. In late autumn, their leaves become duller and less reddish as they reabsorb the pigments to make proteins to help them endure the winter. (Antifreeze proteins are among these proteins.) By the end of autumn, the sapworms all lay eggs and die. Having discarded its nitrocycle symbionts, this severely limits the sapprong's nitrogen intake. With no more adult sapworms flying around and reduced light levels, the sapprong enters a state of greatly reduced cellular activity, or "hibernation". When spring comes, the sapprong turns the glutamic acid in its roots back to nitrogen to resume cellular activity and produce growth. This can be individual growth, aesexual budding, or spore production. Incidentally, sapprong roots are very tasty, like chicken-flavored ramen noodles.