Trunklahn

The Trunklahn split from its ancestor, competing with purple flora led to greater emphasis on the height of just a few wings. These wings become fewer and fewer, and larger and larger until the population became what they are now. The mass of wings that grew from the back of the female have become dominated by one wing that has redeveloped its structure into a singular trunk that supports branching growths off of the top and sides. Which wing becomes dominant to form the trunk is determined by greatest blood flow, which just happens to occur in the second front left wing in the majority of Trunklahn. Some individuals experience other wings becoming dominant, however.

Toward the base of the trunk there are offshoots that will point downward in order to anchor into the soil and help resist stresses that may topple it. When mature the other wings are shed or reabsorbed into the female body.

Although it has become a larger structure it still lacks any equivalent of a microphyll or leaflet, continuing to rely on structures that are primarily vascular systems as opposed to any particularly specialized tissue surface or organ for photosynthesis beyond what had already existed in its ancestors.

Being a lineage of worm it still relies on its unidirectional tracheal system in its primary body for all of its gaseous exchange needs. Because of this both the front and rearmost points of the body have moved in order to remain exposed above the surface to maximize their ability to pass air through this tracheal system.

When mature the primary occupying organ of the body of the female is the heart, to be able to move liquid up to the highest most points in the wing it needs to be comparably massive to the rest of the organs. The second largest system in the body are the reproductive organs for churning out offspring. Digestion and absorption of nutrients is performed entirely along the surface of the branching tongue-roots.

Obtaining CO2 and Function of Blood

Because all gas exchange occurs in the main body of the worm, where their respiration remains, it means that there is no gas exchange at the top of the wings where photosynthesis occurs. Due to this all carbon dioxide used for photosynthesis is passed to the top of the wings through the blood system. The blood does not actually exchange carbon dioxide into the atmosphere via exhaling, as heterotrophic worms do, rather it becomes a sink for co2 while oxygen ends up being fairly freely exchanged as it increases in concentration in the blood due to photosynthesis breaking water and creating more of it that enters into the lahn blood system. Due to this excess of oxygen mature worms tend to be a little bit anemic.

Unfortunately as the worm becomes more dependent on photosynthesis, actually becoming entirely dependent on it for energy purposes once fully mature, the carbon dioxide content of its blood goes down quite a bit. This is simply due to the difference between atmospheric carbon dioxide and the carbon dioxide found in the blood of typical active heterotrophs, the second being about a hundred times more concentrated than the first. This of course is what allows passive exchange of carbon dioxide from the blood into the atmosphere as a heterotroph exhales or however it happens to exchange waste gas with its environment. To get around this sudden drop in available carbon the Trunklahn employs parthenogenetically created offspring.

Parthenogenetically created males stay around their mother tree as long as the tree is alive. This captivation of them by the mother tree is maintained by the tips of specialized tongue-roots that stick out of the surface of the soil and secrete highly irresistible compounds derived from attractive pheromones. The males stick around the area going about their daily lives feeding and multiple times a day visit a tongue tip to consume the thin layer of secretion on it.

When not busy satiating their want for mucus the males feed primarily on any seedlings of purple flora they can find. These baby organisms are still rich in energy from their seeds and their tissues are still soft and easy to chew. This food preference has the added benefit of thinning potential canopy competition with Trunklahns in the area. When seedlings cannot be found they will settle for other small purple flora.

Similar to their mature counterpart the male worm will not exhale carbon dioxide as a waste gas, rather it has a hyperactive response to excess carbon dioxide in its blood by sinking it into reserves of carbonate that it stores in its body. When the mother tree senses that it's carbon contents is becoming low, then when one of the males begins feeding on a tongue-root tip it will suddenly become stuck and be wrenched downward into the soil where the tongue-roots will kill it to pull all of its carbonate stores from its body. The more complex carbon compounds are gradually broken down to be consumed as well, and any valuable minerals or nutrients along with it.

Sexual Reproduction

Sexually produced males are sporadically created as the chance arises, there is no particular breeding season. If a rogue male from another tree is sensed to be feeding from a tongue tip, which is determined via the tongue-root tip tasting them as it feeds, the tip will release true attractive pheromones. These pheromones will put the rogue male in an aroused state and it will mate with the comparatively massive female.

The resulting males from the coupling do not receive much favor from the tongue-root tips as their parthenogenetically born brothers. If one is tasted to be feeding the tip stops producing attractants all together until the male goes away. This weaning and prevention results in sexually produced males straying further away from their mother than their brothers, and becoming rogue wandering males often occurs. Many get picked off, but some stumble across a new Trunklahn with which they will breed. Others that survive but don't find a mate by the end of summer will eventually become large females themselves.

Winter Survival

Over the summer the males, regardless of the living situation, will bulk up fat stores on fallen fruit and whatever consumable vegetation they can find. When the temperature starts dropping they either find or create nearby burrows to overwinter while in a state of torpor. During this cold period the female tree will enter torpor as well, gradually absorbing the tissue that makes up it's wing beginning with the tips and branchings. The addicted males will still venture out every so often to attempt feeding on tongue-root tip mucus, only to be dragged down and consumed as the unwitting winter food stores of the female tree. Typically all males are devoured by the time spring emerges. If one somehow survives the winter it will remain in its burrow and mature into a young female tree.

Tidbits

On the death of a female all males under the tree's influence will scatter from the lack of attractant and stimulant. They all become rogue males that go through the process of either finding a mate or becoming a tree.

In areas with established Sleeve Ferine populations their seedlings will make up a large chunk of the males' diet. Although their toxic element contents are minimal enough that it won't affect the males, over time as the female feeds these elements will accumulate and through biomagnification can become quite concentrated. This results in stunted growth, fewer functional and males produced, and even the premature death of the tree. The lower number of males picking off other purple flora as well means the forests become denser in these areas and less spacious.