Saturntower

Saturntowers split from the spinetower. Saturntowers develop immense tubers that are similar to the corms of banana plants. These tubers can grow to 4 m wide in individuals that have lived a long time. The tubers have a tough, wood-like cortex that protects it from soil pathogens and, to a lesser extent, root-eating fauna such as the duramboar. The cortex contains small amounts of solanine, a poison also found in green potatoes. The solanine concentration is so small that it won't kill fauna, but only dissuade them with its bitterness. (The interior of the tuber has very little solanine, so it's significantly less bitter.) Most of the saturntower's long, thin roots extend from the circumference of the tuber. These roots do not branch unless they encounter water. The rounded shape of the tuber and the abundance of thin roots around the circumference makes the saturntower resemble the planet Saturn. Saturntowers no longer reproduce through spores, instead reproducing through root suckers. These are shoots that arise from buds in its roots, in this case the saturntower's immense tuber. Each sucker is a clone of the parent flora. A single tuber can produce five (and, rarely, six) aboveground stems. As a consequence of their new reproductive mode, they have a patchy distribution, with potentially high population densities where they do occur. Younger stems are delicate, and may be broken by passing fauna. This is actually advantageous to the saturntower. The dislodged young stem can be transported by wind, water, or fauna to new places, where it can start another clonal colony. Saturntowers are common around oases, as the young stems may float on the water and colonize the other side of the oasis. Sometimes the water level is too shallow or nonexistent, and the stems are stuck at the bottom of the pond. There, they are baked by the sun, becoming thin, brittle sticks. The thorns fall off easily if the sticks are scraped against a rock or large flora. Snapperkies use the de-thorned sticks as nesting material. Occasionally, a stem that has not dried out entirely gets stuck in a male snapperky's feathery "collar". With its ability to fly, the snapperky can transport the young stem great distances. Indeed, saturntower stems are so useful to the snapperky that the male may fly from its home territory all the way to a dried-up oasis to collect enough saturntower stems for a nest, thus ensuring the saturntower's survival.