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PLANTS & FLOWERS OF THE REALMS
Beehaven: These long white to yellow blooms have a distinctive odor when they are blooming and can
be smelled by anyone up to 100 yards away. The smell is something like Earth's honeysuckle, only crisper and less
cloying.
Beehaven grows in large bushes and blooms in the spring and the fall. It is often used in garden mazes for aristocrats
who can afford such things.
Beehaven is native to the Heartlands and will not grow without special treatment in colder or hotter lands. It
gains its name from the large bees that the flowers attract. The blooms are so deep that bees often have to climb
all the way in, completely hiding from the casual observer. Thus, fanciers of Beehaven should be warned to be careful
when picking the flowers. Oftentimes one will have an angry bee fly out of the bloom as the admirer is smelling
the flower.
Cerma: This low-lying
bushes bloom in a variety of colors red, white, pink, and even purple. The flowers have no odor and the blooms
last for about two weeks before wilting on the plant. Cerma only blooms in the early spring and is often a sign
of the approaching Greengrass festival.
The priesthood of Lliira find pleasure in Cerma blooms and often decorate their temples and grounds with Cerma.
During the festivals of spring, Lliirians use Cerma blooms in everything from hair ornaments to intricate floats
for parades.
Cerma grows in tropical to sub-tropical environments and tend to die rather quickly in areas where hard freezes
occur often. Due to this, Cerma is rather rare north of the High Moor.
Selune's Bloom: This
medium-sized white flower only blooms at night. From this, it gains its name and it is considered a "holy"
plant by worshippers of Selune.
Selune's Bloom grows as a climbing vine, climbing anything that it comes near. Sometimes the vine grows so much
that is can collapse the buildings that are not very sturdy.
Selune's Bloom is native to the North and can easily be transported to regions south of the High Moor, but in these
hotter realms it tends to do poorly. It blooms in late winter and all through the spring. In the summer, seed pods
form and these harden and break open in the fall, releasing seeds.
Herbalist and healers like to harvest these seeds and then, after a long treatment of boiling and drying, use the
seeds as an astringent and a soporific. If the seeds are used untreated, they are a poison (ingestible, type C).
The taste of these seeds is very distinctive, with a sharp bitter taste like pine bark.
Viperroot: This plant is considered a weed by
most professional gardeners as it has a distressing tendency to take over gardens and areas where it is planted
(much like horse radish in our world). However, after ten to fifteen years, the viperroot mysteriously dies out,
leaving the area where grew much more fertile than it was before.
Viperroot is a low growing vine with sharp, clover-shaped leaves. Its flowers are a lavender and have a sharp,
bitter odor to them. However, the color of the flower is so pleasing that many horticulturists like to grow it
simply for the blooms.
Viperroot blooms all summer long. It reproduces by sending out roots that branch off and grow into new Viperroot
plants. These roots are two to three feet below the surface so it is very hard to get all the plant out once it
has been established.
Viperroot is native to the High Forest. It seems to like sunny low growth areas. Many sages believe that Viperroot
fertilizes the soil around it allowing other plants to move into the area once the Viperroot plant has grown itself
out.
Superstition says that snakes and other ophidian monsters dislike the smell of Viperroot and avoid it at all costs.
Most sages and herbalist hold this to be pure superstition, but the pasted root of the Viperroot is used as a common
ingredient in potions of animal control (snake) and potions of neutralize poison.
Zerse: These large petaled
yellow flowers are akin to Earth's sunflowers. The plant blooms all summer long and in the fall a harvest of black
and white seeds can be gathered. These seeds are often roasted and mixes with suet and sold during the fall festivals
as a treat and a snack. A number of gourmets use Zerse seeds as a highlight for their salads and other dishes,
and Zerse seeds are also a staple for trail rations.
Zerse is native to the Heartlands and points farther south. The far-away land of Luiren is believed to be the place
where these plants originated. Many people believe that this is the one thing that came from Luiren that is worth
keeping.
Article written by 'Unknown'. If any whom the credit should go to, please
be kind enough to inform me. |