Rifamboo

The rifamboo, unlike its ancestor, has multiple photosynthetic crystals on a "trunk" of fungus-like flesh. While the trunk isn't so hard and woodlike as that of its relative, the signpost crystamboo, it is stiff and somewhat resistant to being chopped down. The rifamboo's crystals are shaped like pentagonal pyramids, and are fixed to the trunk with four-sided, sconce-like "petioles" (leafstalks). Only three sides are exposed. The fourth side is directly attached to the trunk, and is exposed only if the "petiole" is sliced cleanly off the trunk. The crystals at the top are often smaller than those lower down, but exact crystal sizes vary. The arrangement of the crystals on the trunk isn't entirely symmetrical. Sometimes they are evenly spaced and go up the trunk in a counterclockwise spiral. Sometimes they have multiple spirals of crystals, one clockwise and one counterclockwise.

Though the rifamboo is very fast-growing, its growth is slightly slower than its ancestor. It only exists in the southern part of the Darwin Tropical Scrub that is adjacent to Javen Tropical Woodland. While they reproduce asexually, mutations are capable of spreading through the population through inosculation. Inosculation is effectively natural grafting: two organisms grow together to form one genetic composite. The roots of different rifamboo individuals can fuse together to form one organism. Young rifamboo sprouts with relatively tender trunks can also naturally fuse together if they grow very close to each other. Inosculated individuals can even transfer genes, though it's limited to the "fungal" set of genes.* Thus, while individual rifamboos are mostly identical, they are not completely identical.

Like its relative, the tropical crystamboo, the rifamboo is susceptible to the parasitic kellace. It first picked up these parasites in Javen Tropical Woodland, after the local strain of tropical crystamboo happened to infect a rifamboo. Unlike its ancestor, it can shed infested crystals before the kellace's root systems extend to other crystals. About half of the time it sheds kellace before the kellace's fruiting body is fully developed. However, kellace persist because rifamboo are very common in their habitats, and there are always some who do not drop crystals too quickly. The parasitic relationship between the kellace and the rifamboo has spread the kellace to the southern end of Darwin Tropical Scrub.

Each photosynthetic crystal contains a red core of fungus-flesh. Prematurely shed crystals can connect to the root system of surrounding rifamboos and grow into new individuals. If they can't access a rifamboo root system, they usually die within a few months, often from disease or predation. Scrub barkbacks are a particularly notable predator, eating prematurely shed crystals much like a squirrel eats a pinecone. Rifamboos most commonly reproduce through budding at the roots, rather than fragmentation.


 * The ancestor of crystalflora, the binucleus icosahedron truncated icosahedron (BITI) was formed when a fungus-like microbe formed a symbiotic relationship with a plant-like microbe. I presume it's a relationship much like the mitochondria in eukaryotic cells, in that mitochondrial genes are inherited through a different process.