Sleeve Ferine

The sleeve ferine grows only beside bodies of water. It is very common in the Yokto Temperate River habitat. In Drake Temperate Woodland, it grows beside lakes.

Pliable, needle-shaped leaves grow sparsely on the branches of older specimens.

The sleeve ferine has heavy, spreading branches. Occasionally the ends of branches fall off. When injured, it secretes a red latex, which hardens and seals the wound. The latex sleeve ferines secrete smells "metallic", like blood on the skin or coins held in sweaty palms. (the particular compound is oct-1-en-3-one) Sealed wounds resemble scabs. Weeks after the scab formation, the sleeve ferine grows miniature branches around the scab. The sleeve ferine's sapwood is an unnerving reddish color with purple tinges, resembling a bloody bruise.

The "sleeves" of the sleeve ferine do not fall off. They have a sturdier construction and thicker bark than the branches. On younger specimens, small branches can eventually grow from shoots around the wound.

The sleeve ferine bioaccumulates cadmium and lead in its wood, with a smaller quantity in its latex. Due to those elements' toxicity, decay of a fallen sleeve ferine is slow: detritivores don't want to eat it. In the Yokto Temperate River habitat, they live close enough to rivers that their branches may drop into the water.

Grows numerous lipstick-red, tulip-like flowers twice the size of the syrup ferine's. The flowers don't smell especially good by human standards, smelling something between stale meat and pineapple. The sleeve ferine is pollinated primarily by Xenoapis corgus (shown above) a large species of purple xenobee with a small, rounded head. It has two large "primary" eyes. The three other eyes are "secondary" eyes, which are smaller and harder to see at a glance but still quite capable of sight. Xenoapis corgus is unusual for having odor receptors on the lip-like appendages of their cloaca. This plays a role in mate selection.

Grows reddish berries 4 cm in diameter. They are insipid and have three large seeds per berry. At time of evolution, no fauna can disperse its seeds effectively. Fortunately, its seeds can germinate without being eaten. Typically, the berries drop off the sleeve ferine and into the river, where they float around for a while. The berry coat is digested by microbes, and the seeds eventually float onto some muddy shore.

They can't germinate if the water is too salty. In some areas, the muddy shore is studded with rotten berry coats and sleeve ferine seeds that failed to germinate. These areas form the approximate border of Yokto Salt Marsh.