Featherfinger Shrub
The featherfinger shrub is a fleshy plant native to the Great Desert. It is recognized as the only plant stubborn enough to survive in the Scorch.
Featherfinger shrubs are made up of thin fleshy tubers that sprout out from a central mass. Each tuber splits into two smaller tuber at the end. The tubers grow at awkward angles and are brown in color, giving them the uncanny appearance of many-fingered hands.
When the plant propogates, its tubers sprout many delicate filaments from their tips. Each filament has a tiny seed at its base. They are blown off with a strong wind, allowing the seedling to travel far from its parent plant to sprout. When a shrub is burdened with many waiting filaments, it looks as if the tips of its "fingers" are sprouting with translucent feathers--thus its name.
Resilience and Tenacity
Featherfinger shrubs use Glow from the moons to cool their internals during the hottest parts of the day. This is what allows them to survive in the Scorch: a place that regularly reaches surface temperatures well over 100 degrees.
The shrubs can survive being uprooted, which is a common hazard in the shifting sands they call home. They can manage without water for many months at a time. They grow slowly and can live for decades--perhaps even centuries. They can even survive having all of their tubers cut off! Indeed, a featherfinger shrub can spring back to life even if it is nothing more than a fleshy lump with wispy roots on the bottom.
Tubers removed from the plant can even be planted themselves and sprout as clones of their parent. It may be that the shrub is only truly killed when it is eaten!
Finger Food
The featherfinger shrub is edible to those that can tolerate its pungent taste. It is very tough and crunchy, but can be softened if cooked. Boiled tubers can be mashed into a lumpy brown paste, which can be eaten as-is or pan-fried into crispy patties.
Featherfinger patties are cheap but filling. They are a common household meal for cultures living in and near the Great Desert.
Cursed ginger.
You're so right.