Blue-Heart Bloom
Basic Information
Anatomy
Blue-Heart Blooms are short, fruit-bearing ferns. The fronds fan out around a central stock to a maximum of forty centimeters. The roots are shallow but run as wide as the leaves. The central stock rises up a few centimeters and splits into three to seven pods where it flowers in the spring. The flowers are bell-shaped with a swollen bulb at the base. The bulb develops into a fruit which breaks away from the plant easily to expose the seed chamber underneath.
Genetics and Reproduction
The seed chamber below the fruit is easily spilled by an animal eating the fruit and often is eaten with the fruit by larger animals. The seeds can easily survive being eaten, being tiny and hard enough that chewing does not usually damage them.
Growth Rate & Stages
The Blue-Heart Bloom is an annual plant. The seeds germinate in early spring, sending up a small fan of fronds around the central stock and expanding the root system rapidly. The flowers begin budding from the central stock around this time. By mid spring, the central stock rises above the fronds and the full fan of fronds begins to spread out. Once the flowers have been pollinated, the seeds develop below the bulb portion, which becomes the fruit. The plant survives into the middle of autumn before dying.
Ecology and Habitats
Wet environments are preferred, usually along rivers, lake shores, wetlands and marshes, and humid, rainy regions. It tends to be a fragile plant, being crowded out by more aggressively growing species. Elven gardeners are the primary reason the plant is able to thrive anywhere.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Elves harvest the fruit, which is crushed to extract a juice that is distilled as a component to a potion the induces Vitale Repose. Elves have, in fact, magically engineered this usefulness into the plant.
Lifespan
9 months
Average Height
15-25 cm
Geographic Distribution
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