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Swamp Cushio (Multirami palustris)

Creator: Ethos
Ancestor: Crooked Cushio
Habitat: Ethos-Zorcuspine Temperate Watershed, Etho Marsh, West Darwin Temperate Woodland
Size: 12 m tall
Support: Unknown
Diet: Photosynthesis
Respiration: Unknown
Thermoregulation: Unknown
Reproduction: Sexual (hermaphroditic, airborne structures)

Swamp cushio is a much taller and faster-growing descendant of Crooked Cushio, having evolved its greater size and growth rate due to reduced light competition after the extinction of large crystalflora. Full size is reached in 20 years. It has also adapted to tolerate anaerobic, waterlogged and nitrogen-poor mineral soils. The thick, woody taproots eventually push themselves above the surface, forming stable buttresses. The trunk widens with age due to secondary growth just under the bark. The central vascular tissues die and harden over time, providing extra structural support. Root nodules are near or above the soil surface to allow aerobic nitrogen fixation by symbiotic Globanitrates. This species is common in the early to middle stages of forest succession in wetlands where organic material has either not yet accumulated or has eroded. After major floods or sedimentation events, swamp cushion is among the first to form a closed canopy and enrich the soil with nitrogen. However, it is only abundant in these recently disturbed habitats and only occurs sparsely elsewhere.

Like its ancestor, it is hermaphroditic and reproduces via small male ketkins that fertilize nearby female ketkins, which develop into a pod of seed-like offspring dispersed by gravity or wind.


This post has been edited by Ethos: Feb 18 2023, 09:07 PM

Anything that might differentiate this or help avoid competition with the Mauvacken I submitted?

QUOTE (Cube67 @ Feb 18 2023, 11:00 PM)

Anything that might differentiate this or help avoid competition with the Mauvacken I submitted?

I should have made sure I was up to date on the most recent submissions, we had very similar ideas! However, I think this still works. Swamp cushio has "knees" for its root nodules which gives it an edge in anaerobic conditions. It is also adapted to mineral wetland soils (that's usually gonna be clay and sand) whereas mauvacken has trouble in sand. Its fast growth is also an advantage, though it isn't common in later succession. I have tweaked the description to emphasize these features.

Since this group seems prone to hybridization, I could see a new genus group having taken on some of these more early-successional and wetland-adapted traits.