Driftwood Gumjorn

The driftwood gumjorn split from its ancestor and adapted to life on the strange and ever-changing driftwood islands. This unique flora possesses a variety of adaptations to suit its new environment.

In order to obtain more energy from the sunlight which it requires to live, the driftwood gumjorn’s ‘windows’ have expanded similarly to those of its relative, the ornate gumjorn. This makes it easier for the driftwood gumjorn to photosynthesize but sacrifices some of the strength its chitinous shell would otherwise provide. Not only do these larger windows help to fuel growth, they also make the driftwood gumjorn more shade-tolerant, expanding its range into the wooded areas of the islands. In order to conceal itself from predators a little better, the driftwood gumjorn’s chitinous frame has become a more dark and muted shade of brown, mimicking the color of mud and rotting plant matter.

To compensate for the somewhat extreme environment in which it lives, the driftwood gumjorn has evolved to produce more offspring at a time. These ‘stembuds’, as they are called, are each homologous to the gumjorn’s basal segment, but have a different aspect ratio and lack the deep grooves found on the mature flora. Strangely, every driftwood gumjorn can actually produce two types of offspring, the differences between the two types being regulated by just a couple of genes that control important aspects of the gumjorn’s growth and development. The usual type of offspring, as depicted in the main image, is somewhat elongate and egg-shaped, with only a small amount of salt being transferred to them during their development. However, if the driftwood gumjorn accumulates too much salt, it will grow a degenerate, spherical stembud about one third of the length of the regular type and with no windows. This type of growth, called a saltbud, has a large amount of saline diverted to it during its development. At the end of the saltbud’s development, most of the water is pumped back out using transport proteins, and the salty husk detaches and is left to die. This is a highly effective osmoregulatory system, as the driftwood gumjorn can grow both types of stembud at the same time, the proportion of the two types depending on how much salt is currently present in the gumjorn’s system.

Driftwood gumjorns, while not having as extensive a root system as some other flora, do have long and fibrous roots that radiate outwards horizontally. These thin and tangled roots help to hold the driftwood soil together.