Introduction to Extant Flora

With so many varieties of plant, algae, and fungus analogues, Sagan 4 can be a botanist's dream--or a botanist's nightmare, with how scattered information on most of them is. Nonetheless, this page serves to introduce each main group of flora.

Purple Flora
Purple flora are, largely, exactly as described in their name--purple plants.

Most bizarrely, purple flora are actually a sister group to--of all things--the krakowpedes, which are likewise in the same kingdom.

Humms
Humms are only distantly related to other purple flora. Their distinctively-shaped leaves produce sound when wind passes through them. They are found on multiple landmasses, but much of their diversity lies specifically in Drake and Ramul.

Puffplants
Puffplants constitute many of the seed- and flower-bearing purple plants on Sagan 4. They come in a variety of grass- and sedge-like forms, as well as many kinds of trees and shrubs.

Carnoferns
Carnoferns are a noteworthy branch of puffplants which form many kinds of fruit-bearing shrubs and trees.

Lightberries
Lightberries are varieties of puffplants which have very lightweight berries. Once diverse, in the modern day they have been whittled down to just a few species.

Ball Flora
Ball flora are so named for their origins as simple, spherical plants which filled a similar role to mosses. Some modern species retain a similar appearance, but others have grown into shrubs and trees. They are the most diverse clade of purple flora on Sagan 4.

Shrooms
Shrooms are a subgroup of ball flora which superficially resemble mushrooms and don't perform photosynthesis. Many of them are decomposers, though some are also parasitic.

Orbions
Orbions are various shrub-like ball flora which are distinguished by their prominent prongs. They range from grass- to tree-like forms.

Fuzzballs
Fuzzballs are distinguished from other ball flora by their fuzzy texture. They range from primitive hairy orbs to larger fruit-bearing trees and shrubs.

Crystal Flora
As their name implies, crystal flora externally resemble crystals. They originated from the same ancient symbiosis which produced worms, consisting of two distinct cell lines, fleshy fungus-like red tissue (forming the core and mycelium/roots) and chitinous photosynthesizing green tissue (forming their characteristic shell).

Black Flora
Black flora are various groups of multicellular flora and their microbial algae ancestors which have black photosynthetic pigments. They range in form from simple phytoplankton to towering trees.

Spore Sprouts
The spore sprouts make up the majority of black flora diversity, ranging from tiny sprouts to towering rainforest trees. Most species are some form of spore stalk.

Obsidian Plants
Obsidian plants are various woody trees and shrubs derived from spore stalks. More basal species resemble palm trees in overall shape, effectively just being upscaled spore stalks, and can be found on most landmasses. Descendants of the Lacy-Leaf Obsiditree found in Wallace and Koseman have fractal branches and in some cases multiple clusters of spore pods, causing them to resemble more typical forest trees.

Glass Flora
Contrary to their name and superficial appearance, glass flora are made of chitin, rather than glass. These tough, cold-loving plants commonly have lens-like shells which can ignite their surroundings.

Boneflora
The boneflora are seaweeds named for their calcified shells, which in combination with their red pigmentation causes them to look like bones and raw meat.