Megaflorica

Megaflorica is a rare species of plant found far into the open ocean. These plants grow to astonishing sizes, forming floating islands over a mile long. Until recently considered a sailor's tale, most currently believe Megaflorica to be a large population of plants grown into a massive tangle. In reality, each entire island is a single organism.

Discovery

The first sightings of Megaflorica date back to early expeditions across the ocean, though it was only with recent advances in navigation technology and ship design that their existence could be entirely confirmed. These sightings first seemed like mirages - land spotted by the ship's topmen, but not coming closer as the ship sailed towards it, and finally fading into the distance overnight or being lost in a fog bank. As ship designs improved, ships would occasionally catch up with the Megaflorica, if the winds were favourable, but could still be lost overnight, with one unfortunate incident marooning several sailors who camped out on the floating island overnight. Of course, people back on land never believed these tales of "moving islands" and assumed that sailors were either lying or mad.
With the advent of improved navigational tools, the famous explorer, Roland Nash, managed to chart the movements of a Megaflorica by hauling his sea anchor up onto its surface, tethering the ship to the plant. His crew stayed tethered to it for nearly a year, taking regular measurements and charting its movements. The route taken by Megaflorica does not match prevailing winds or known sea currents, but scholars believe that this pattern might be the result of a deeper, faster current than the charted ones near the surface. After all, no diver has managed to find the bottom of a Megaflorica.

Uses

The discovery of Megaflorica has been a major boon to the world. Large bulbs, believed to help the enormous mass of plant matter float, can be cut open to extract an oil that burns with a smokeless flame and is a particularly long lasting lubricant for mechanical devices like the now-ubiquitous Marine Chronometer. Early harvesting operations simply cut the bulbs out of the plant, but more recent operations have found that if the bulb can be pried free without cutting the tough fibres connecting it to the rest of the plant, a bulb will heal over time, producing far more oil than could be harvested from a dead bulb. Its fronds can also be used to make a salty tea, though it has yet to be decided whether its unusually stimulating properties are medically beneficial or decidedly alarming. Most efforts to harvest Megaflorica are done by ships, tethered to the plant with specialized harpoons long enough to load up on cargo before leaving, but in the last few years efforts have been made to create a permanent settlement on one, the town of Fortune.