Ink Button

"Hey, kid. Wanna take a ride? Nah, kid. I ain't talking about that mediocre mass-produced shit. This, right here? Straight up Moreno Monster, fresh from the valley. It'll show you colors you've never seen before."
Ink Button, also known as Black Cactus, is the source of the illegal drug known as Incodin. Formerly a prescription medication offered to sufferers of PTSD and anxiety, it quickly became apparent that the drug's chemical makeup was causing some people to exhibit extreme upper symptoms, such as that of cocaine.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Growing in small, close-knit wedges of five or so "cloves," an ink button more or less resembles a knobby, dark cactus with short, dark spines. After fruiting, they develop large, indigo-black blooms, usually around late Fructi through early Cali. Ink buttons often grow in bundles, with large patches growing in recesses of dried trees or rocks. The interior of the plant is stained a dark black, with hints of green where the chlorophyll hasn't been soaked through.

Genetics and Reproduction

Ink buttons typically go to fruit in early Fructi, as the heat of Calor fades. Afterward, buttons flower into dark indigo blooms, emitting a saccharine, almost petrol-like scent. Once pollinated, ink buttons will bud new plants, sometimes forming large colonies.

Growth Rate & Stages

Though faster growing than its cousin plants, an ink button still takes a long time to grow, relying on the shade of dead parent plants when no trees, scrub brush, or rocks are around to offer relief from the sun. As such, the first two to three years of an ink buttons growth appear to be repeat failings. However, when the dead husk of previous growth provides enough shade to flourish, colonies can generate fairly quickly within a couple of years. Cultivators often describe growing ink buttons as a matter of numbers rather than luck. A single button may only generate one or two buds before becoming part of the husk, but a handful of buttons will quickly quadruple their numbers.

Ecology and Habitats

Ink button manages a wide array of otherwise hostile environments, relying on its spines and hallucinogens to protect it while it develops. The wastelands of the Draugrlands offer home to many colonies, all hidden under scrub brush or rock overhangs that provide the buttons time to gestate before turning to husk. In particularly unexplored areas, it is feasible that overgrowth of ink buttons would actually allow other less hardy plants to flourish under their filtered shadow.

Biological Cycle

Aside from inevitably going to husk from the heat of direct sun, little tends to interfere with the growth of ink buttons. Being a type of cactus, they last well through drought and keep their water from predators via spines. Once they flower, the husk process starts regardless, and this if left unfettered tends to occur most often in the month of Autumnali.

Scientific Name

Lophophora Sangosii

Conservation Status

Ink Button is a protected use drug, illegal in Duvoch yet still a common black market purchase.