Shalebark
Shalebark is a class of organisms native to Roshar. Though it comes in many forms, it always looks like stone with retractable, often fanlike, tendrils. Shalebark grows wild in such diverse locations as the relatively barren Shattered Plains and the jungles growing on the Tai-na in the Reshi Sea. It is also used extensively in landscaping across Roshar.
Shalebark is not a plant, but something more similar to coral.
Ecology
Shalebark often forms symbiotic relationships with fauna that is specifically adapted to each type of shalebark. For instance, plated stone, a blueish form of shalebark with yellow tendrils, has blue and yellow snails with flat shells that clean the shalebark and camouflage well when they pull into their shell. A knobby form of shalebark with fingerlike protrusions has tiny cremlings that blend in with the protrusions. Lifespren are often found drifting around shalebark.Cultivation
Shalebark is widely used in landscaping across Roshar. Gardeners shape it by filing it down and can paint it with a sap to encourage it to grow in particular directions. It is used to line paths and to form walls. In Kharbranth, there is a hedge maze where the hedges are formed of shalebark. It grows relatively slowly, so it can take years to cultivate large ridges.Known Varieties
- Plated Stone - grows in thin round sections that stack similarly to plates in a cupboard. The stone-like part is a bluish color and it has yellow tendrils that grow from pores in the "rims" of the "plates".
- Hand shaped shalebark with finger-like protrusions growing from a central knob. This is found in the gardens in Kharbranth and growing wild in the chasms of the Shattered Plains.
"Clusters of a bulbous variety of shalebark grew along the inside, bursting with a variety of bright colors. Oranges, reds, yellows and blues. Some outcroppings looked like heaps of clothing, with folds spread like fans, others grew out like horns. Most had tendril like threads that waved in the wind" - Description of shalebark on Roshone's Estate
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