Chameleon Obsidishank

The chameleon obsidishank split from its ancestor and adapted for drier conditions, ironically losing its broad trunk in the process. It is neotenous, better resembling a juvenile tree with its skinny trunk. It has also outcompeted the obsidoak in its range, as the larger tree struggled to reach full size in biomes prone to fire, and as a result the treehook tamow has also become locally extinct. It has a branching trunk and multiple spore pods. In order to keep itself cool, it has evolved camoplasts convergent with those of greyscale algae which allow it to change color; when leaves overheat, they turn grey and then white, but once they have cooled off enough they will darken again. On average, excluding the night, the leaves are at their darkest in the mornings and evenings and lightest around midday. Its spore pods are longish rather than round.

The chameleon obsidishank is somewhat resistant to fire, though not immune. It can recover and regrow after going up in flames. Its leaves are skinny and resist desiccation better than the broader leaves on its ancestor. It is evergreen, or perhaps more accurately evergrey, and rarely sheds its leaves, unlike its ancestor. It uses tubers to store water and nutrients for use in surviving dry seasons and regrowing after fire.

The chameleon obsidishank produces many airborne spores from its spore chambers. Their shape allows wind to pass through rather than around them more easily, blowing the spores away. The production of spores is triggered by an increase in humidity and the release by intense wind, so that they will be distributed sufficiently to germinate during the local wet season or spring rain. The spores are so abundant that they can create an orange haze, and many are lost to the wind, becoming a rather abundant form of aeroplankton high in the sky along with the spores of many other kinds of black flora. Saplings can reach 30 cm in height within their first month in ideal conditions. The amount of time it takes to reach full size varies depending on local conditions over time, but they grow significantly faster than their ancestor did, usually in only 10-15 years.