Huckachucks

Huckachucks
(Perdulliogerm spp.)
Information
Creator	Colddigger Other
Week/Generation	27/167
Habitat	Barlowe
Size	3 - 6 m Tall
Primary Mobility	Sessile
Support	Cell Wall (Cellulose)
Diet	Photosynthesis
Respiration	Passive (Stomata)
Thermoregulation	Ectotherm
Reproduction	Sexual (Winged Berries and Puffy Spores, Seeds), Asexual (Crown Fragmentation)
Taxonomy
Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Division Class Order Family Genus Species	Eukaryota Phoenoplastida Phoenophyta (info) Rhagioanthia Acininumeropsida Comalasales Arthrocampanaceae Perdulliogerm Perdulliogerm spp.

Ancestor:	Descendants:
Mainland Chime Slingberry

The huckachucks split from their ancestor and rapidly diversified across Barlowe to fill the niche of large herbaceous flora. The various species of this group tend to be 3–6 meters tall. Individuals only live for a few years, usually dying off after five or six years, leaving even shorter lived fibrous or spongy snags, which typically return to the soil within three years. They don't typically do well when faced with taller competition capable of shading them out, fairing much better in open areas, places that experience landslides or regular erosion, or after wildfires. Many species have seeds that require prolonged light exposure to break dormancy, this trait allows seeds that have become buried to wait it out until erosion or upheaval finally exposes them, sometimes waiting for hundreds of years.

Members of this group have a fairly standard slingberry body-form, with a central unbranched trunk lined with bilateral alternating leaves. The trunk itself is entirely encased and fused to the surrounding petioles, vertical growth may be achieved primarily in younger tissues or may occur as internodal extension depending on the species, though neither method of elongation exists isolated in any one species. The leaves are never compound but often deeply and many lobed, some even to the point of becoming frilly ruffled and curly. These leaves are tough and thick, remaining on the organism for much of their life.

The slinging aparatus grows in a same manner to the leaves, bilateral and alternating, with a comparably intense internodal growth fueling their height. These reproductive structures appear a few years before the deaths of these flora, sprouting from an axillary bud that sprouts and hormonally stops the growth of the previously solitary terminal bud. If the production of this hormone is silenced the terminal bud will grow as normal, oust the slings from their position atop the flora, and essentially ruin their ability to properly disperse their fruits. Genetic exchange between individuals is done via the release and capture of puffy spores by the immature slings. The slings will continue to grow and disperse their fruits until the collection of reproductive structures are too heavy to support themselves and snap off, after which a new axillary bud repeats the process. This intense activity gradually exhausts the floral body, as the leaves, despite their long lifespans, lack any fresh replacements as they age.

The berries created by the huckachucks are built to helicopter through the air as they gradually fall, this helps them spread even further than they would if having simply been flung. Each berry contains a single dormant seed structure. These little kernels are very tough, resistant mechanical or chemical attempts at digestion, and capable of long periods of dormancy while maintaining high germination rates. Most species require a combination of moisture, light, and mild temperatures to germinate.

The root system of the huckachucks are mostly fibrous, with a handful of larger roots at the base of the trunk used for storage. If the trunk of a huckachuck is damaged, or the terminal bud dies, the root crown of the organism will throw up a single new stalk to replace the old one, if the root crown itself ends up damaged it may result in multiple stalks growing out of the clumps of root, resulting in a form of asexual reproduction via