Sunion

The sunion replaced its ancestor the sunleaf since it's better at withstanding the cold winters. Sunions drastically change their appearance depending on season. In the extended polar summer, they form onion-like "blooms" made from an inner crown of leaves surrounding its spore chamber. The fleshy inner leaves are succulent in both senses of the word: they are both water-storing organs and juicy, tasty foodstuff. The leaves of the outer ring are small, rounded, and very low-growing. Though the leaves of the "bloom" are shed in the winter, the leaves of the outer ring are retained. They function like a blanket for the delicate stem tissue of the sunion. (The stem no longer forms a distinct stalk, but it's still a growth point for the leaves and "bloom") The low-growing shape of the leaves keeps them low to the ground, where it is slightly warmer. The sunion stores nutrients in thick roots that resemble braided bread. At the start of summer, the sunion draws upon these nutrients to grow. The sunion has only a few roots. Due to the permafrost layer, these roots grow shallowly. On warmer summer days, the sunion emits a thin, smoke-like plume of spores. From afar, sunion patches appear to be covered in slight fog with a yellowish cast. Despite resembling an onion, its flavor is more similar to nopalitoes, which are slices of cactus pads. Due to the extended growing season, sunions have plenty of time to regenerate should fauna eat the blooms.