Lurain
| Lurain | ||
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| (Angeliflos paradisus) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | Disgustedorite Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/167 | |
| Habitat | Steiner Tropical Rainforest Archipelago, Steiner Subtropical Rainforest Archipelago, Steiner Tropical Rainforest | |
| Size | 115 meters tall | |
| Primary Mobility | Sessile | |
| Support | Unknown | |
| Diet | Photosynthesis | |
| Respiration | Passive (Stomata, Aerial Roots) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Sexual (Hermaphroditic, steiner squaph pollination, windborne seeds) | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Division Class Order Family Subfamily Genus Species | Eukaryota Phoenoplastida Phoenophyta (info) Nautophyta Chorophylla Auloanthales Auloanthaceae Arborhizolyroideae Angeliflos Angeliflos paradisus | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
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In the wet rainforests of Steiner, it was inevitable that some of the lurs which spread from Ramul would skyrocket in size, eventually producing the lurain. This enormous tree is the largest humm ever yet to live, standing at a whopping 115 meters in height at its maximum. It coexists with the emperor greatcap, which it outpaces in growth speed by default as purple flora but which can still dominate over it in drier regions.
As a type of humgrove, the lurain's trunk is technically one very large aerial root, as are its branches; though it's mostly impermeable and covered in bark, the tips of its branches are actually able to absorb water from the air, helping it achieve and maintain its height. This structure, called the pilosurculus (meaning hair-sprout), has many tufts of root hairs which capture moisture. The root hairs gradually fall off to be replaced by bark. Every aerial root tip has a pilosurculus at the end.
Young lurains resemble the terrestrial lurtrees they evolved from. As they grow larger, more roots erupt and touch down in the soil, eventually producing their dome-like base. As they grow taller, new roots stop touching down and instead act more like branches. These older juveniles might look like a tall bush with many leaves, but as they grow more they start to drop older branches that don't get enough light, leaving behind distinctive scarring. They pause growth at about half their adult height, where they look like miniature versions of the adults, and shoot up once there's a break in the canopy from one of the adults dying. They can take as long as 500 years to reach full size. Typically, only fully grown adults will bloom, but flowering is triggered by wind and can occur at any size if it isn't blocked by taller individuals.
Many leaf clusters will bloom at once, quite unlike its ancestor. This is because in the rainforest, the forest floor is very dark and any large-scale disruption such as from a wildfire is uncommon, leaving the chances that even one seed will sprout very low. Therefore, producing a large number of seeds is key to having any chance at reproductive success. As a humm, the lurain's reproductive structure, called a harp, is designed to capture wind and produce a sound. It does this using a set of "strings" stretched across a gap, which are technically specialized leaf veins exposed by programmed cell death. The sound is similar to that of a wind harp, and it attracts its chief pollinator, the Steiner squaph. As the squaph feeds on the lurain's nectar, it also collects gametes which may then be deposited in another lurain later. Upon being fertilized, the harp's strings die and break off, rendering it mute. The seeds are eventually released into the wind and scatter. The seeds are so small and light that they will sometimes cross the sea and land on other islands, allowing the lurain to colonize new ones.
Where the lurain is present, other lurs apart from certain climbing species are relatively rare, and the Steiner squaph will preferentially visit lurains. This is because lurain-dominated forests have very little wind below the canopy, so both the pollination song and the spread of seeds are severely restricted. However, in some locations such as the edge of Steiner Tropical Rainforest where it borders Steiner Volcanic, lurains cannot grow to full height, so other species are able to coexist with them.