Bloodsap Melontree

Splitting from its ancestor, the bloodsap melontrees have come to dominate Vivus islands more temperate regions. Evolution and isolationism, as well as fertile soil, has seen fit to provide the unique conditions prime for flora to grow to impressive heights, and this species has fully taken advantage of this. Individuals can grow to be almost 10 meters tall, though most fall just short of this or, within cooler regions, grow to only half this height. Bloodsap melontrees are most commonly encountered within the rainforests of the island, where they themselves make up the majority of the taller flora alongside the similarly sized gecoba trees and those great titans, the crystalpines. These forests have begun to spread further inland, taking over regions where once they did not exist. Growth involves several robust creeper-like trunks rising from the soil, intermingling and tangling with one another for support as they reach for the sky. Fruiting bodies begin to form as the melontrees reach several meters in height, and as time goes on, several will begin to form into marblemelon-like fruit which weigh down the "branches". Ripe with seeds, these fruit will eventually fall off, where they will inevitably be devoured by herbivores. As the seeds are later on passed, they will take root and begin the process again. Adult individuals can also reproduce by releasing runners underground which will spread out around them, forming smaller forests of clones. This is a similar reproductive method to their ancestors. They derive their name from the sap they release when damaged. Thick and sticky, not unlike molasses, its deep red color bears an uncanny resemblance to iron-rich blood. While quite foul smelling, this substance is in fact an evolutionary defense against microbes and parasites that might otherwise invade their bodies through damaged openings in their trunks. This sap occasionally congeals into amber known as "blood gems", though more often than not it is consumed by various smaller organisms that are immune to its toxicity. - - - Despite their defenses, the melontrees are not entirely immune to the various threats of the island. One in particular, the lithe, worm-like rustyblood scuttlers (Scuttleresta rubigoso), will often burrow their way through the thick skin of these trees, leaving corkscrew-shaped holes in their wake. They do so as they seek the softer, more tender "flesh" within, as well as the stores of fluids contained there. This often results in burrowrot, a disease that is, for the most part, superficial only, yet often leads to further sicknesses as other species utilize them to bypass the sap and such. Some opportunistic parasites that utilizes these burrows include the crimson scissorjaw minikruggs (Kruggetica omnomnomus) and the kingmortis sappro (Saproutine infernalis). The former often hollow out entire sections of melontree interiors in order to make their colonial nests, while the later causes the disease known as blackrot. This disease is caused by the sappro stealing away too many vital fluids and nutrients from its host, causing cells to die and causing the trunk to develop black splotches of weakened, necrotic flesh. Thankfully it is often only a passing illness in older individuals, which often manage to fight it off by increasing the toxicity of their sap for brief periods of time. A costly investment, but it helps to prevent their own deaths. Various blutgut sapworms (Sporewormus spp.) often infest the branches of this species, gorging themselves on the bloodsap they produce, which in turn gives them a brilliant red color. They often take the place of sapshrooms which, somewhat surprisingly, have failed to establish themselves on melontrees so far, likely due to the bloodsap itself being toxic to them. Whether or not they will eventually evolve adaptations of their own to overcome this hurdle is unknown as of now.