Phoenixtail
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Phoenixtail has replaced its ancestors, the phoenix grass and ashkalatongrass, in its range. Phoenixtail resulted from generations of spores from phoenix grass and ashkalatongrass cross pollinating with each other. Eventually, these underwent a series of reduplications of its genome. This is a condition called polyploidy, in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of chromosomes. Phoenixtail is tetraploid, which means that it has four copies of its chromosomes. However, due to this process, the phoenixtail is sterile to the phoenix grass and ashkalatongrass.
The phoenixtail stands as a tall set of dark grass-like stalks. At the end of these stalks are a bulb, capped off with long thin hair. The bulb is the spore capsule, and as the phoenixtail grows, this bulb gets bigger, longer, and heavier. The bulb weighs down the stalk of the phoenixtail, causing it to bend and droop over. When the long hair coming out of the bulb makes contact with water, like the surface of a river or pond, it will untwist, opening up the spore bulb. The spore bulb opens up and long thin strands of red, orange, and yellow flow forth like luscious locks of hair. Ensnared on these hairs are thousands of phoenixtail spores. When these colorful hairs get wet, they dissolve, releasing the spores. These spores wash up on the beaches, repeating the process.