Meltmarsh Shrub Crystal
| Meltmarsh Shrub Crystal | ||
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| (Palusite hiemes) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | Disgustedorite Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/167 | |
| Habitat | Drake Prairie, Drake Polar Scrub, Drake Mamut, Drake Steppe, Drake Rocky, Drake Highvelt, Drake Tundra, Drake Badlands, Drake Barrens | |
| Size | 1.4 meters tall; growth stunted to 1 meter or lower by permafrost in harsher biomes | |
| Primary Mobility | Sessile | |
| Support | Unknown | |
| Diet | Photosynthesis | |
| Respiration | Passive (Lenticels) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Asexual (Budding), Sexual (Spores) | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Subkingdom Division Class Order Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Binucleozoa Crystallozoa (info) Cavacrystalita Coelocrystalla Caulocrystallales Caulocrystallaceae Palusite Palusite hiemes | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
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The meltmarsh shrub crystal split from its ancestor. It is adapted to thrive along snowmelt marshes, where it takes advantage of nitrogen released from thawing soil. In the harshest parts of its range, it is heavily associated with frostmelters, which lower the permafrost level and therefore aid in the formation of fertile marshes. It is able to survive purely on photosynthesis thanks to the high nitrogen content in the soil of many of the polar biomes it inhabits, and a new grove of saplings can take over a patch of snowmelt marsh in a matter of weeks. Though it can take as long as a month for it to reach full size, it can bud at any age and reaches sexual maturity in less than a week. It has gained sexual reproduction using monokaryotic spores released from its crystals, similar to that many other kinds of grovecrystal.
Like its ancestor and like many other grovecrystals, the meltmarsh shrub crystal can reproduce by budding, which is responsible for its quick takeover of wetlands. Much like its ancestor it has a branching growth form, however the meltmarsh shrub crystal's branches are more staggered along its main trunk rather than occurring in a single cluster. The crystals themselves are actually perennial, as the segmented primary growth of the trunk in grovecrystals comes from the crystals themselves while the later branching and thickening is secondary growth. Crystals will be shed if damaged, such as by a predator, and can be regenerated. It survives winters by filling its tissues with sugars, which act as antifreeze.