Razorbark

The razorbark is relatively slow-growing. However, it is resistant to herbivory. The sharp leaves are an effective deterrent to some herbivores, but the curazzope is well-adapted to eating sharp leaves. For this, the razorbark's leaves have another defense: oxalic acid. The oxalic acid makes the leaves unpleasantly sour and toxic to the curazzope's kidneys. The razorbark's thick stem and tuber merge seamlessly, giving it a pineapple-like shape when pulled from the ground. Layers of hard, sharp bark cover all but the very bottom of the tuber. This makes it difficult for whiskerbacks to eat. Whiskerbacks that try to circumvent the sharp bark by tunneling to the base of the tuber may be crushed by the whole razorbark falling into the tunnel, as the razorbark is heavy and only weakly anchored to the surrounding soil. While not actively carnivorous or adapted to carnivory, the razorbark is quite capable of absorbing the nutrients from the rotting whiskerback corpse. Duramboars, which also eat roots, can't be crushed by the razorbark. However, they have no way of digging up the tuber without digging up the whole flora, and if they manage that, it's very difficult to eat the tuber without slicing their snouts on the sharp bark. The only herbivore with significant success in eating the razorbark is a tiny, short-lived species of sapworm, which avoids the leaves and bark entirely by only sucking the sap from the spore chamber. Razorbarks' weak roots make them susceptible to uprooting in flash floods. If flash floods deposit razorbarks on their sides, they can't right themselves. It's also hard for them to re-grow their roots. Most die following a flash flood. Therefore, they are more common in areas less prone to flash flooding. They rarely occur in bonespire-dominated oases, mostly living in mixed-species "thickets". In the Fermi Desert, it lives in mixed-species "thickets" with Dalmatian spinetowers, while on the edges of the Fermi High Desert, the thickets have colony stalks. Those that live in colony stalk thickets have the advantage of thumbwalkers eating their sapworm pests. The thumbwalkers benefit from the razorbarks, too, for the huge bodies of the razorbark help hide thumbwalkers from the sight of shantaks, obstruct shantaks in their chase, and slice the shantak's skin if it gets too close to the leaves or bark.