Wax Stinger
Wax Stinger is a unique form of cacti, only found in The Wild Wastes. This unusual plant is harvested for its juice, that is very coveted by the magical practitioners as well as culinarists alike.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The Wax Stinger appears in nature as clusters of globular cacti, with unusual dark red or purplish hue similar to bruised skin and long, wax-covered spines on which the plant has gotten its name. I singular cactus is rarely larger than a fist, yet the cluster can be large, covering several square feets of land, often stemming from just few, large roots. Their areoles are somewhat fuzzy and may hold up to 8 spines or a single flower. Wax Stinger's flowers are pink and star-shaped, much lighter than rest of the plant and rather small.
Spines are covered with red wax, that is very sticky and irritating to the skin. Wax is very irritating to the skin and hard to wash off.
Ecology and Habitats
The plant clusters are found in areas between dunes or otherwise in pits which give the plant some shade, causing trouble for unobservant wanderers whom step or slide to them by accident. They fill these natural "bowls" with growts, sometimes scaring the people that see them for the first time, as they might first seem like a pile of mangled meat from a death creature.
The roots of the cacti do make the ground around them more sturdy, which can prove useful as suddenly appearing and vanishing sinkholes are not unusual in wild magic areas. these sinkholes only rarely appear righ next or below the cacti.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
The most coveted part of the plant is the juice inside it; water that the plant has gathered and has turned in to translucent pink gel. The subtance has magical properties that make it a good base for potions and tinctures and has some medicinal properties when rubbed on skin. However, some people have grown a taste for the juice that is in fresh, undiluted form somewhat toxic and started adding it to food and drinks, including the infamous Blaze Pop.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
What makes the Wax Stinger very unusual is its preference to grow in to eye of wild magic zones which usually kill most of the already sparse plantlife of The Wild Wastes. This is speculated to be the reason why the plant has so many unique properties.
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