Chocofern
| Chocofern | ||
|---|---|---|
| (Fuscifrondes choco) | ||
 | ||
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| 26/?, unknown cause | ||
| Information | ||
| Creator | Coolsteph Other | |
| Week/Generation | 25/156 | |
| Habitat | Fly Tropical Rainforest | |
| Size | 60 cm Tall | |
| Primary Mobility | Sessile | |
| Support | Unknown | |
| Diet | Photosynthesis | |
| Respiration | Passive (Stomata, Lenticels) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Sexual (Fruit, Pollen, Nectar) | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Division Class Order Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Phoenoplastida Phoenophyta (info) Rhagioanthia Phoenopoopsida Canistropsilales (info) Orthrocanistraceae Fuscifrondes Fuscifrondes choco | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
|---|---|
Chocoferns split from its ancestor. It live in the shade beneath carnarbors. In addition to a purple pigment that absorbs yellow light, they have a yellow pigment that absorbs blue light. This allows them to gain energy from parts of the light spectrum that pass through the carnarbor's leaves. Rather than being masked by another pigment, as in Earth plants, the two pigments are contained in separate chloroplast-analogues on the same level of the leaf. The yellow and purple pigments are perceived as brown in the same way an image made entirely of tiny red or blue squares is perceived as purple from sufficient distance. While shade-tolerant, the chocofern grows much better when exposed to full sunlight. Should the carnarbor it lives beneath die and fall to the ground, the chocofern will re-absorb the yellow pigments in its leaves, replacing them with purple pigments. While it may seem inefficient to discard part of the light spectrum, the chocofern's cellular machinery is much better at using yellow light than blue light. This is simply the product of hailing from a long line of purple flora, which have used yellow light for photosynthesis for millions of years. The younger leaves are purple, as usual.
Uniquely, chocoferns grow from the base, rather than the tips. Therefore, the leaves on the extremities are older than the leaves closer to the base. This growth pattern means the older, heavier "branches" droop to the ground.
Xenobees pollinate its flowers. The xenobee species most closely associated with chocoferns, Xenoapis choceater, can't see color, and is instead guided by the flowers by the flowers' sweet marshmallow-like smell.
As one can tell by the bite marks on two of the leaves, chocoferns are popular among stubhead bounders. (Though, despite the name, the leaves don't taste like chocolate.) Fly Ridgehorns eat the chocofern's small, fragrant, plum-shaped fruit, depositing the seeds in their waste. (which, as typical in plents, in ejected from the mouth in the manner of an owl pellet.) The seeds are small, red, and bitter, glowing slightly by means of fluorescence. The red color and glow are aposematic, meaning they warn potential herbivores that it tastes bad.
Living Relatives (click to show/hide)
