Greatcap Baseejie

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Greatcap Baseejie
(Lepidocanopium teguladomus)
Artwork of Greatcap Baseejie
Species is extant.
Creator Bufforpington Other
Taxonomy
Domain
Kingdom
Subkingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Eukaryota
Binucleozoa
Crystallozoa
Cavacrystalita
Coelocrystalla
Caulocrystallales
Polygonophyllaceae
Lepidocanopium
Lepidocanopium teguladomus
Week/Generation 26/162
Habitat Drake Temperate Woodland, Ramul Temperate Woodland
Size 9 meters tall
Primary Mobility Sessile
Support Unknown
Diet Photosynthesis
Respiration Passive (Lenticels)
Thermoregulation Ectotherm
Reproduction Sexual (Crystal fruit and flowers), Asexual (Budding)

The greatcap baseejie has split from the baseejie. It has grown to incredibly sizes and stretches high above the canopy of Drake's temperate woodlands. Their leaves are now arranged into a dense dome of rectangular prisms protruding from a dense tangle of branches. This allows the greatcap baseejie to shade out competitors. This odd amalgamation of leaves combined with their glossy sheen furthers the greatcap baseejie's uncanny appearance, making it almost look like a simple tree from a television show using bad CGI. This effect is particularly noticeable from a distance, where the jagged bottom of the tree is hard to define. During the winter, the greatcap baseejie will shed its leaves and hibernate. However, the population living on the warmer Ramul Island remain active all year. The greatcap baseejie's shading capabilities makes it the dominant species in secondary growth forests.

The greatcap baseejie has advanced its reproductive capabilities considerably. Like the weeping baseejie, the greatcap baseejie produces fruits derived from its ancestor's 'flowers'. However, unlike the greatcap baseejie, these fruits are sexual and go through a 'flower' and 'fruit' stage. In addition to this, they are also shaped like cubes and dangle from the greatcap baseejie's tangle of branches. In the 'flower' stage, the fruit has an incredibly hard casing that serve as a means of deterring the scarlet phlyer and the courier phlyer. Like the original flower crystals, the 'flower' stage fruits are filled with a sugary solution that attracts xenobees, which feed on the solution and spread the greatcap baseejie's gametes. These gametes exhibit anisogamy, in which the female gamete is larger than the male gamete. However, both gametes are flagellated and capable of movement through the solution. The 'flower' stage fruits are also hermaphroditic and identical. Once the gametes have fused into zygotes, the pores will be sealed and the fruit will enter the 'fruit' stage. Ripe fruits have a softer shell and are filled with a starchy flesh that tastes similar to banana-flavored candy. The fruits are filled with small seeds that can survive in the digestive tracts of the scarlet phlyer and courier phlyer. The greatcap baseejie produces its fruits during the early summer in Drake and year-round on Ramul Island.