Cork Prutarbor
| Cork Prutarbor | ||
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| (Arbullitus suber) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | Bufforpington Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/167 | |
| Habitat | Lamarck Temperate Woodland, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, Maineiac Bush, Maineiac Plains, Maineiac Plains Archipelago | |
| Size | 5 meters Tall | |
| Primary Mobility | Sessile | |
| Support | Cell Wall (Cellulose), Flotation Bubbles (Hydrogen), Thick Stalk | |
| Diet | Photosynthesis | |
| Respiration | Unknown | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Asexual (Hydrogen Filled Seed Bubbles, Seed-Filled Fruits) | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Division Class Order Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Phoenoplastida Phoenophyta (info) Physallophyta (info) Physallothallopsida Maineibullales Arbullitaceae Arbullitus Arbullitus suber | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
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While the prutarbor's westward expansion was inevitable due to its easily dispersed hydrogen filled seed bubbles, this would be expedited by the Lamarckian dracoworm. After populations established themselves in Maineiac Bush and Maineiac Temperate Woodland, they began to allopatrically speciate from their eastern relatives, adapting to the drier climes of the west. This eventually caused them to break off from their ancestor and split from them in Maineaic Bush, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, and Lamarck Temperate Woodland while expanding northwards into the plains and across the sea into the neighboring plains archipelago.
The main derived trait of the 'cork prutarbor is their thicker, corky bark. This allows them to survive the wildfires that frequent the plains and bush. This adaptation allows it to often outcompete other trees like tetrabrachs and auger-prongions in the region.
Cork prutarbors prefer drier mesic soils and often are found in the heart of the temperate plains and scrublands of Lamarck. They do not fare as well in wetter soils, so while they dominate the heartlands of their domain, they will ultimately be outcompeted and rendered rare on riversides, lakesides, and in floodplains. Likewise, the cork prutarbor is only able to persist in the drier upland regions of Maineiac Temperate Woodland and Lamarck Temperate Woodland, where they cannot be outcompeted by the other, non-xeromorphic trees that share its range. Their ability to be dispersed by wind has brought them to Maineaic Plains Archipelago. There, they dominate the centers of larger islands, where the soil isn't as badly contaminated by salt coming from the sea. They are most common on the largest island in the archipelago.
Like their ancestor, the cork pruatarbor hibernates during the winter. In the early fall, the cork prutarbor will release all of their leaves, which will float into the sky en masse via their hydrogen-filled seed bubbles. While many seeds do not survive the winter, some survive into the spring and sprout into new cork prutarbors. If a swarm of bubble-leaves encounter a thunderstorm in the fall, an uncanny spectacle will unfold. Bolts of lightning will cause large numbers of these bubbles to explode violently and rain fire onto the lands below. Indeed, these incidents can sometimes start massive wildfires if there is no rain to extinguish it. The rarest of these meteorological incidents is when a supercell rolls through clusters of cork prutarbor bubbles in southern Lamarck. This will result in both a combination of hail, fire, and lightning to beset anything unfortunate enough to be caught in the storm. The branches are not entirely capable of supporting themselves. Smaller ones that were recently put out sag under their own weight. Meanwhile, large branches will snap and fall off the tree. Scars from such events heal quickly, though. This makes the segments of the cork prutarbor appear spotless despite recently shedding branches. After the fall comes to a close, the cork prutarbor will remain dormant until leafing out in the early spring. Cork prutarbors are more inclined towards warmer climes and are most successful on the southern coast. However, they can survive in cooler conditions up until the boundary between the temperate and subpolar regions.
Like its ancestor, the cork prutarbor produces large fruits to attract frugivores. They have the same sickeningly sweet flavor as their ancestor but are more conical in shape. The cork prutarbor will bear its fruits throughout the summer. This has brought the fruitsnapper to Mainieac Bush, Maineiac Temperate Woodland, Mainieac Plains, and Maineaic Plains Archipelago.