Lightgroove Irigafrut

Lightgroove irigafrut (Inripomala lenicanalis) is a species belonging to a taxonomical kingdom of plant-like organisms called Jellocapes (Multiprustae), notable for a gelatinous frill that is part of their anatomy. This species seems to be named after the physiology of a groove that can be found when inspecting the surface roots of this phytomorph. Further down the line L. irigafrut is identified as a Roughbloom (Durvigeoles) which are more akin to clubmosses although some of roughblooms have evolved to resemble more diversified and unique forms L. irigafrut requires riparian habitat to be nearby to grow efficiently and is capable of changing composition of soil beneath to an extent which may render it harmful towards a number of other Cyroterm's plantlike species. The ability of changing soil might be attributed to possible symbiote activity in the irigafruts which the species may have retained from their very distant ancestors, the Swarmperches.

Appearance/Anatomy:

Although technically trying to emulate a club moss niche-equivalent, L. irigafrut seems to resemble a ground lichen with flattened vine-like ground roots and a hard nut that is vaguely shaped like a smooth surfaced pineapple. The pineapple appears to be hollow on the inside. The whole organism is not all that small and is about 30 cm diameter if one measures the lichen-like frill crown position underneath the nut. At all times L. irigafrut retains at least a portion of water, thus living up to its namesake components of being a fruit and a irrigation system. Peculiar looking on the surface, it continues to surprise if pulled out of the ground which is not an easy task in itself. As the root comes out, it resembles a braid with goop hanging from the sides. At the end of the braid the root divides in a crescent form that also shares similarities with a pickaxe. At the very top (or bottom) of the pickaxe smaller roots come out, trying to gain some of the resources hidden in the deepest part.

L. irigafrut is often found sharing a root system with others of its kind, though those are only the surface roots that connect each individual. The roots that connect individuals resemble simple vines with some dots on them and they are called connector roots. But there's another type of root the irigafrut has, one that seems to only lead toward a surface waterbody nearby possess a specific physiology - on the top of it a groove goes along the whole length of the root. This groove seems to either guide the water towards the plant or act as an absorption incline for the water to easily seep into the core of the root itself. Or maybe it even carries out both functions. The water seeking root largely looks the same from the start to its end with the waterlogged portion of it simply ending abruptly as if it was chopped off.

Behavior/Growth tendencies:

L. irigafruts easily tolerate the presence of others of its species, but it also seems to passively influence the soil beneath it so it could be the only one exploiting its resources. The influence only reaches a tiny distance from the frill dish and ends at the area where the connector surface roots branches off. Nonetheless, only specific Cyroterm phytomorph species are able to counter irigafrut's symbiotes and revert the soil to a more ordinary state. L. irigafruts are adapted to grow in different temperatures, but they may act stressfully when encountering larger temperature fluctuations happening over shorter period of time.

Habitat:

L. irigafruts grow in riparian habitats, although they may also be content with smaller streams or even near standing waterbodies, though not having a large running source of water may cause the irigafruts to only reach dwarf sizes. The soil on which this species grows also need to be one that has been underwater at some point of history. L. irigafruts don't do well on an uneven ground as it tends to disrupt their success at attracting water from the water bodies. Although tolerant towards floods, L. irigafruts react negatively to prolonged floods and may detach its pineapple in order to disperse via spores located inside of it.

Abilities:

As mentioned before, Lightgroove irigafrut is capable of transporting water in a specific way through its thick surface roots as well as capable of influencing the soil around its subterranean root in order to sap resources from it and transform into more condensed, conglomerate that keeps the irigafrut more situated within soil. The symbiotes continue to be active while maintaining form of a goop which ensures that the irigafrut continues to receive nutrients even while having changed the soil to be more unfriendly to foreign plant-like species. Strangely enough, animal and cell-like species are not really affected by the soil change though they can suffer from having their plant species of choice being pressed out of habitat by L. irigafrut.

Like all jellocapes, L. irigafut is able to retain heat in its frills even though frills usually release heat rather than retain it. Having the frill crown resting against the ground and being more thicker may have to do something with the efficiency of the heat retention as well as the symbiotic structures within the frill. These structures and the goop like symbiotes in the ground root are the same unnamed symbiotic species that just diversed to carry out different tasks.

Diet:

Lightgroove irigafrut is a photosynthesizing organism that also gains nutrients from soil and the water and there's even a theory that the symbiotes in the frills or the subterranean goop also are capable of chemosynthesis. Despite sipping up water, L. irigafrut is not really capable of eating any zoomorph (animal-like organism) that lives in the water, but some of the smallest ones may end up getting dragged out and suffocate on the top of the root, though at least some amphibious species just end up living on the groove itself.

Life cycle:

Lightgroove irigafruts seem to reproduce vegetatively, but actually they always grow from spores. The difference is where the spores are sent - if they are sent through a developing connector root then they end up at the tip of it and start growing from there, creating the illusion that the newborn organism has developed from the root's tissues alone. However, if the spores are sent through the irrigation root, the one with the groove, they end up in the waterbody and are carried away to other places to kickstart a completely new colony. Prior to the send-off, recently developed spores are kept safely within to he hardened pineapple, though unlike in actual fruit bearing plants, the pineapple in most cases only holds the spores and they are transported away from it once the time comes. But during excessive flood it is a different story and the pineapple acts like an actual fruit or even a coconut to the spores inside to protect them as they are carried away. The bottom of the pineapple gets sealed with specific tissue during the flood and the spores consume their way through it once the pineapple ends up stationary and specific window of time passes.

L. irigafrut develops from a spore to resemble a tiny, more standalone version of its ancestor taxon, the Roughbloom. It starts of as a tiny piece of frill stuck in wet soil then starts developing a braid-like root while simultaneously the frill widens and becomes rounder. Next, hyphae-like ground roots start feeling their way around the irigafrut to look for water and nutrients on the surface. Only with time these hyphae start growing to become more like vines and at the early stages of life there are a lot of them, but eventually fully grown L. irigafrut only has 4 maximum and up to two of them will be irrigation roots.

As the underground root grows, the goop-like symbiotes activate and start changing the soil to faciliate roots growth. If they are successful than the root will actually start developing the crescent anchor at the bottom. The pineapple nut will be the last structure that develops - it starts off being rubbery, but grows thicker peel as it develops and finally will end up as the hardened structure it is supposed to be. On the top of it, two strands end up growing which are speculated to be leftovers from the nutrient holding tip of the pineapple when it was just developing.

Ecology:

C.kryntswishers keep the smaller animal populations from becoming too widespread and ravenous and also keep each other from becoming too self-righteous (in other words, undisciplined, unchallenged males try mating with animals of other species causing chaos and harm). C.kryntswisher is a typical species that can get both ecto- and endoparasites therefore also ensuring their diversity. If C.kryntswisher is unable to hunt as much as it is capable, the herbivores end up eating all the vegetation in the channel, rendering their camouflage less effective which forces C.kryntswisher to look for other spots in order to basically survive. It has to sneak upon their prey otherwise it tries attacking it's snout which, if the prey dodges afterwards, causes C.kryntswisher to get injury instead of a meal.

Being a phytomorph that can alter soil underneath it considerably and also take up lot of space, Lightgroove irigafrut can be seen as a pest, but ultimately it is just another organism looking for a way to get by, even if it can end up being excessive about it. Some studies carried out by the current civilization suggest that if L. irigafrut were to not change the soil, some species of plants could actually start stealing from it, signifying that its braid-like root is not properly secured against quasiparasitic root behavior that some phytomorphs can exhibit. Select phytomorph species can grow near it and are able to realter the soil for themselves, but they don't really endanger the irigafrut. Only if the third phytomorph sets a seed in the middle and happens to be quasiparasitic, then the irigafrut is in danger.

Compared to a number of jellocapes, lightgroove irigafrut retains heat on the inside and is not sought out by organisms that usually look for specific phytomorphs that radiate heat. Some zoomorphs and micromorphs can eat their way to the inside of irigafrut just to get to the warm spots and score free food, but that is only temporary as L. irigafrut takes parasitism more poorly than most other phytomorphs. In a colony of L. irigafruts, other individuals tend to support ones that happen to be influenced by parasitism of eith animal or plant-like beings, though this ultimately doesn't do anything to deter the parasite from leaving irigafrut alone.

As a water sipping phytomorph, lightgroove irigafrut is also responsible for changing water level slightly in waterbodies nearby, but with it often being irregular regardless in its home regions, this doesn't have a large effect on the local ecosystem.