Pitchbloom

While the role of small ground flora for the inland areas of Fermi was already being filled by several different species, none of those were melanophytes. Instead it was dominated by purple flora who all filled specialized realizations of this particular role to avoid directly competing with one another. While this balance worked pretty well amongst themselves, it didn’t mean no other species of small flora would try to settle the region. This would take the form of the Pitchbloom, a split of the Sunion that moved away from the continent’s southern tundras and adapted to live in a warmer environment.

In many ways the species is similar to their ancestors, as many of the Sunion’s adaptations towards living in cold tundras translated quite well for living within the continent’s highly seasonal interior. The large onion-like “blooms” help store water, which is mainly helpful for the months of autumn where rain becomes uncommon but it's not cold enough for snow to fall. The “blooms” are also still quite succulent, providing a feast for local minikruggs. Losing these “blooms” is not too much of a problem, as the kruggs will focus on them instead of the small outer ring of leaves that are the primary photosynthetic structures. Additionally, the several thick roots (that still resemble braided bread) still draw in nutrients that in turn helps the Pitchbloom regrow or repair the “blooms” after being munched on by Minikruggs.

When winter arrives within Fermi’s inland habitats, Pitchblooms will still shed their “blooms” as they would require too much energy to retain and simply shedding them off is much more efficient. The outer row of leaves is still retained, as not only do they still gather sunlight for energy but they also still act as a blanket that protects their highly delicate and sensitive stem tissue. Although the outer row of leaves of the Pitchblooms are lower to the ground compared to purple flora like the Fermiblades, their black coloration means they can take in all parts of the visible light spectrum for energy, meaning they can take advantage of all the light they do obtain while remaining low to the ground to avoid getting chilled by cold winds. Once the area warms up with the return of spring, the Pitchblooms will regrow their “blooms” as they obtain more energy with longer hours of daylight. By early summer, Pitchblooms will begin to emit a thin smoke-like plume of gametes into the air. These gametes appear as a slightly yellowish fog that can then be carried for great distances by the wind. When the gametes meet those of another individual they will then fuse together, with the resulting spore eventually landing on the ground and germinating, eventually growing into a new Pitchbloom. During the autumn months, Pitchblooms will stop reproducing, as by that point any resulting offspring would be too small to survive the cold winter months.