Webflower
Webflower is a common plant found across the world of Veska. They are most often found within cold or temperate environments, especially damp ones. It's commonly harvested and used as an important binding agent and regent for Alchemy -- in particular, potion making. Despite often being considered one of the single most important plants in the potion-making business, it's also often regarded as a weed or pest if left unchecked.
Basic Information
Ecology and Habitats
Webflower is found in damp, cold environments but can also be found sprouting with ease in temperate locales due to its invasive nature. It's a very unique plant that thrives best within cold bogs, swamps, and grows uncontested in regions that are covered in permafrost, like Tundras.
The reason Webflower thrives so thoroughly in these cold environments is due to it mostly being composed of a fibrous substance that's capable of anchoring itself through hardened ground over time; this allows Webflower to drill its roots through either ice or permafrost so that it can steadily convert it into the moisture needed to help it survive such inhospitable conditions.
They are considered a 'pest' for two reasons. Their resilience means that it's exceptionally difficult to remove them without desiccation or complete removal of moisture, and their fibrous roots are known for infesting other plants. Roots of Webflower can be found often boring into nearby trees or surrounding flora, leeching away their nutrients for itself and leaving patches of dried, desiccated earth in its reach.
Webflowers spread over these dried plant graves swiftly, overtaking the area so that they may quickly continue to spread their invasive growth.
Biological Cycle
Webflower doesn't really follow the typical seasonal changes you'd expect for a plant. Instead, instances of it tend to act much more like fauna than flora, growing over time and changing based upon the passage of it rather than weather patterns. This is mostly due to their environments often being universally cold.
Webflower functions by sending fibrous, hollow growths that extend like roots. These roots branch out, siphoning whatever moisture towards a central 'bubble' that acts as a storage pod of the plant. This is why it has its name; it resembles a spider's web spreading over time, before a silky, even sticky growth is left containing whatever water it needs to grow. The pod later on begins to sprout into a massive flower.
After blossoming, it spreads white, dense spore clouds that help promote the growth of additional Webflower clusters.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
There are many uses for Webflower, but the most obvious and simple one is that the sticky fibers can be broken down and handled by even novice alchemists. In fact, making glue from Webflower is as simple as boiling the fibers down in a cauldron to ensure the plant dies, before leaving the water to evaporate with the concoction in please. As time goes on, these fibers break themselves down into a pasty goop, which creates a surprisingly reliable adhesive or glue.
Asides from that, Alchemists are fond of using Webflower for binding agents. The fibers ensures that ingredients mixed into a potion can bind together more effectively, and it's often frequently the catalyst that allows their tonics to become medicinal salves or creams that can be applied to mend wounds, tend to burns, and even disinfect.
Another notable use for Webflower is the creation of Tanglefoot Traps; which are special vials filled with a still-living Webflower plant at the center. The plant inside the vial grows aggressive as it's left in a cold environment. When thrown, it shatters, causing the Webflower to rapidly explode and cover a wide area in a sticky adhesive. True to its name, it's often used to bind the legs of the target, and is a favorite for hunters or law enforcement that wish to snare their quarry nonlethally.
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