Cloudgrass

Cloudgrass split from its ancestor and got much larger from lack of competition. It has developed a long, differentiated bilateral shape well-suited to collecting sunlight, aeroplankton, and water. The main body is the ancestral bubble, though now much bigger and egg-shaped, and its interior is spongy rather than hollow. On one end are wispy root-tendrils, which collect water from the cloud it is embedded in. On either side are flagellated steering tendrils which allow it to turn and move in either direction. Along its underside, sticky tendrils hang down to catch aeroplankton. It will even consume its own ancestor. On its other end is a set of derived tendrils which have a flat fractal growth pattern and collect sunlight, functioning as leaves. Its top side is featureless, apart from a faint fuzz of hair-like tendrils which serve to slightly increase its surface area and protect it from UV light and desiccation.

The Cloudgrass has managed to make these advancements due to it developing a more efficient way to control its vertical position. Rather than using a lot of energy with its flagella to move it actively, it can fill the cells lining its bubble with water to compress the gas inside, making it sink. It can remove some water in order to let the gas expand, causing it to float upwards. The outer layer is tough enough to not stretch when pressure inside is increased significantly. Over time, the interior of the bubble became more sponge-like so that it could increase this effect, which also had the side effect of giving it more space for Cloudbubble Cryoutine symbiotes. The spongy interior also means that it can recover from attacks by its predator, the Cloudbubble Tropoworm, as it can rapidly close off the area surrounding any tear before too much gas escapes. A pair of tuber-like structures on either side, which are visible from the outside as bulges, are used for storing the water used in its flotation process. As implied by these characteristics, all of this is handled by a simple vascular system, which is also more efficient than direct cell-to-cell transfer of water.

The Cloudgrass has made a change to how it reproduces. The exact mechanisms are identical, but new Cloudgrass grown from spores actually can no longer produce spores right away. They must reproduce asexually through macroscopic binary fission first. This is because sexual reproduction is useless without anything with which to reproduce sexually, and reproducing asexually at least once solves that problem. This assists the Cloudgrass greatly in surviving at lower population densities, such as populations found in drier continental winds. Binary fission occurs laterally, their last connection being by a tuber.

Like its ancestor, Cloudgrass can be found dotting the surface of clouds, causing it to appear as though the clouds have grass growing on them—which they effectively do. Hair Nimbuses can grow on the leaves and top surface of the Cloudgrass far more easily than on its ancestor, as they are no longer at high risk of digestion when they land on top; Cloudgrass has no need for defense against these nimbuses, as they are transparent and therefore do not interfere with its photosynthesis.