Plume Shrubs

The plume shrubs split from their ancestor and diversified across Wallace. These arid-adapted multi-trunked shrubs and small trees (which may be called "plume trees") are most common in the plains, scrublands, and savannas, though a few species also live in deserts and in early succession highboreal forests. They and their ancestor both use sunken stomata and lenticels to breathe without losing much water. They can also survive in Wallace's subpolar regions, as their arid adaptations also serve well as cold adaptations. Their main morphological distinction from their ancestor is their growth form, where instead of forming pom-poms, the leaves grow more or less vertically in tufts. The spore pods are set on stems to keep them above the leaves.

Plume shrubs are more resistant to heat than their ancestor, which makes them change color less often. This is in part because their more erect leaves allow better air flow to cool them down. They may still turn white in the mid-day heat of some of the hottest biomes in their range, but are able to stay black otherwise. They are everblack, even in cold biomes. Plume shrubs are, in much of their range, in direct competition with various other shrubs and small trees, which can either outbreed or outshade them. However, their inherited ability to regrow from fire makes them able to persist. They have even improved on it, losing their segmented texture due to improved bark regeneration.

Plume shrubs are fast growers, like their ancestor, and can reach 30 cm within a month of sprouting. The amount of time it takes to reach full size varies depending on the species, but even the largest ones can reach full height in under 20 years. Similar to other black flora, their spores are multicellular, which aids them in sprouting in harsh conditions, though they still require rain for fertilization.

There are many species of plume shrub. They vary in size, and some species will have leaf tufts that point straight up while others may be more relaxed and puff-like. Tubers are ancestral to the group, inherited from their direct ancestor, but are absent in some species that have more access to water and nutrients. Different species in the same environment will offset their breeding from one another to reduce the risk of hybridization, but they regularly hybridize regardless.