Bluestalk

Replacing its ancestor, the supershroom, in and under Yokto Forest and Marsh, bluestalk is named after its characteristic blue stalks that grow from under the main cap. These stalks are colored such in order to attract fauna that then consume them, the resistant spores passing through the digestive tract and then germinating on and within the rest of the animal’s waste (this quality has allowed it to spread its spores underground via burrowing fauna). The blue stalks themselves contain small amounts of sugar, further encouraging fauna to eat them, while the main body, which contains no pigment and only adsorbs color from its substrate, goes unharmed. The stalks are constantly regrown for the whole year, but the bluestalk usually dies during winter (those underground often don’t but usually grow slower then those on the surface due to less available nutrients), while the spores are able to endure the cold temperatures and germinate in spring.