Pyre Shrub

The pyre shrub is one of the few plants that are able to grow beyond a few centimeters off the ground, in the inhospitable habitat of the Gadah Laksin. Its name comes from the fact thatit is the only type of wood available year long for the building of the traditional Otadan funerary pyres.
It dominates the landscape of the southern tundra belt, but can survive even in the frozen desert at the feet of the Danu's crown, becoming indispensable for the population that leaves in the region and can only rely on it as vegetal fuel.
The shrub itself has an unremarkable look, consisting in a up to one metre tall globe of thorny branches that during the short tundra summer gets covered by small pink flowers. These can be harvested for a tasty herbal tea, with bland excitant effects. The flowers turn into fluffy seeds that can be blown away by the cold wind in the following season.
The tribes of the White Bear ethnicity, harvest the shrub for firewood after the fruiting season, in part to allow the plant to complete its reproductive cycle and in part because its wood in this dormient phase is dryer and provides a better combustible, capable of catching fire without the need of much tinder.
This is the busiest time of the year for the White Bear tribes, as there is only a short time window for them to collect the resources they need, before the winter forces them in their Winter Villages for the following months.

Lifespan

20 years

Average Height

1 meter

Geographic Distribution

• Gadah Laksin

Related Ethnicities

• White Bear ethnicity