Bafforr tree The Bafforr trees , or simply Bafforrs , were crystalline plants native to Ithor . They had blue , glassy bark ( which quickly blackened upon death ) and black leaves . Though unintelligent on their own , groups of Bafforrs could communicate via intertwined root systems , becoming more intelligent . Seven Bafforrs could achieve a fully sentient collective consciousness , with whole Bafforr forests being wiser than any other being known to the Ithorians . Bafforrs communicated through a form of telepathy . Imported reeks ' primary diet consisted of the Bafforr tree ' s leaves . Biology and appearance . The bafforr trees had crystalline trunks , with bark smoother than glass . Bafforr branches formed a sharp , interlocking web . The bafforr trees were aquamarine in color , although paler than the surrounding forests on Ithor . At nighttime , bafforr trees glowed a pale blue color ; this faded to black if a tree was killed . Some bafforr trees also had black leaves . Sapling bafforr trees looked like inverted cones , and were colored a lighter blue than more mature counterparts . Bafforr trees could not survive being uprooted . Some bafforr trees had shining black bark . Behaviour and intelligence . The bafforr trees had a form of collective sentience : individual trees possessed limited intelligence , but as the trees roots intertwined , the individual intelligences connected , forming a group mind . Consequently , the greater the number of trees forming part of the collective , the more intelligent the trees became . Bafforr forests therefore ranged from semi - sentient to fully sentient . That phenomenon was similar to the bivalvic Knowledge Bank of the water - planet Dac , the sum of numerous brains working in concert toward a common purpose . A total of seven bafforr trees were required for true sentience . Below that number , a grove became befuddled , losing its memories . The bafforr forests promoted an ethic called the " Law of Life , " according to which only non - sentient plants could be harvested , and even then only if two plants were planted for every one that was destroyed in the harvest . The bafforr forests ruled benevolently over all the rest of the forests ' organisms , which included such flora as the indyup tree , donar flower and bull - fern , and such fauna as the manollium bird , shamarok flitter and the arrak snake . Bafforr forests also communicated with the Ithorians ; the Cathor Hills forest became a teacher and friend to High Priest Momaw Nadon . When he touched the trunk of a grove of bafforr trees , the smooth bark hummed under his touch . The mind - touch of the bafforr grove filled the Ithorian with a pure and holy feeling , conceptualized by Nadon as if light entered every pore of his body . It was a soothing presence , evocative of great beauty , although through that presence , the Ithorian could discern dissatisfaction and other emotions . When the bafforr trees communicated , their leaves trembled , hissing words . History . Evolution . The Ithorians , a sentient , ambulatory species that also inhabited Ithor , worshipped the bafforr forests . The advent of repulsorlift technology allowed the Ithorians to withdraw from the planet ' s surface , considering it sacrilegious to touch the forest . However , some Ithorians broke that religious mandate , believing that " Mother Jungle , " a spiritual entity thought to embody the verdant , tropical ecology of Ithor , had summoned them to live on the planet ' s surface . Such Ithorians became ecological priests , tending to the bafforr forests . They were considered renegades by the rest of Ithorian society , which forbid them from returning to the Ithorian Herdship s . During the Great Sith War , Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War , a massive Galactic Republic fleet was stationed over Ithor ; however , Sith saboteurs caused at least two Ithorian Herdships to crash into Ithor ' s jungles , leading the Ithorians to withdraw slightly from the war efforts . In 439 BBY , Ithorian scientists spliced genes from bafforr trees with those of vesuvague tree s and several other species . The resulting species , known as " Spore , " retained the collective sentience of the bafforr trees ; however , unlike its gentile antecedents , Spore was malevolent , driven relentlessly to subsume other beings into its collective mind . That it accomplished by touching individuals with tentacle - like vines inherited from the vesuvague , a semi - sentient plant species in its own right . Through physical contact , Spore was able to possess bodies and send out tentacles from its victims to take control of even more . Spore was extremely virulent , and spread across Ithor , taking control of many beings . Some Ithorians speculated that it had the capacity to controls millions of individual beings . Ultimately , with succor from Jedi Knights , the Ithorians countered Spore ' s influence , although it took almost 100 years to rid Ithor of the presence of the bafforr derivative . Spore was reduced to a tiny sample , and secreted in a tomb on an asteroid . There , deprived of oxygen and a host , it became dormant . That period of upheaval came to be known as the Ithorian Spore crisis . Galactic Civil War . Years before the Battle of Yavin , the Galactic Empire was attracted by the Ithorian expertise in cloning and genetic engineering . Imperial captain Alima of the Star Destroyer " Conquest " laid siege to the planet . He boarded the " Tafanda Bay " , the largest of Ithor ' s Herdships , and demanded from its High Priest , Momaw Nadon , the secrets of Ithorian technology . Nadon initially refused , and so Alima ordered the partial incineration of one of the many sentient forests on Ithor . That particular forest , known as the " Cathor Hills , " was located on a eponymous geographical feature considered sacred by the Ithorians . Thousands of bafforr trees were killed as the large grove was partially incinerated by the Star Destroyer ; the large , dark , cylindrical , felled trunks lasted for many years , appearing like tubes of burned transparisteel . When Alima next threatened to fire upon the " Tafanda Bay " , Nadon felt he had no choice but to relinquish the secrets of Ithorian technology to the Imperial . For that action , Nadon was exiled from his family and homeworld , eventually settling on the desert planet Tatooine in the Outer Rim Territories , where he cultivated a number of bafforr trees . Nadon ' s wife , fearing what else the Empire might do , also revealed to the Empire the existence of Spore in an attempt to prevent further violence . Alima ' s act of violence prompted many Ithorians to clandestinely support the Alliance to Restore the Republic . Some ten months after the Battle of Yavin , the Ithorian Fandomar Nadon found two Human children , Tash and Zak Arranda , on the surface of Ithor . She showed the Alderaanians the oldest grove of Bafforr trees on the planet , an enormous grove of densely packed trees . The grove connected telepathetically momentarily with Tash Arranda , who was Force - sensitive , when the girl reached out with her mind . Fandomar later took the Arrandas and their uncle Mammon Hoole , an anthropologist , to an asteroid mining colony in the Ithor system , in order to obtain a supply of the mineral ethromite for their uncle ' s starship . The miners offered to supply the mineral in exchange for Hoole ' s expertise in deciphering an artefact they had found within an asteroid . By 11 ABY , the Cathor Hills forest had started to recover , tended by a group of at least four Ithorian renegades , although numerous ruined trees still remained . New Republic General Wedge Antilles took the Omwati scientist to view the Cathor Hills , explaining the dynamic between the Ithorians and bafforr trees to the sheltered woman . The following year , in 12 ABY , one of the five - yearly Ithorian Herd Meet s was held at Ithor , with dozens of Herdships floating only meters above the canopies of extensive bafforr forests . That meeting was interrupted by an attack by a crazed individual on New Republic guest of honor , Han Solo . Yuuzhan Vong invasion . During the Yuuzhan Vong War , Jacen Solo and Corran Horn discovered that the trees could be used against the vonduun crab armor worn by the Yuuzhan Vong , as the crab was allergic to the pollen produced by the tree . This reaction would cause the vonduun crab to swell , killing the crab and any who were wearing it . Almost all of the Bafforrs were destroyed when the Yuuzhan Vong bombarded Ithor to eradicate this deadly weapon . The New Republic ensured the survival of the species , however , as they had already transferred saplings to other planets such as Borleias . However , the forces of the New Republic and then the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances were never able to replicate the bafforr pollen , and so it failed to deliver the military advantage that had been hoped for . It did , however , serve as the starting point for the development of Alpha Red . Following the Yuuzhan Vong War , the Ithorians started to restore Ithor with traditional techniques , eschewing vongforming techniques . Bafforr trees in the galaxy . Two groves of bafforr trees grew on Tatooine with exiled High Priest Momaw Nadon . The first grove of seven , black - leaved bafforr trees grew in one of the many side domes of Nadon ' s Mos Eisley home . In 0 BBY , Alima was assigned to Tatooine to search for two escaped droids . Nadon arranged for a friend to sell information implicating Nadon with the Rebel Alliance to Alima ' s forces , hoping to retaliate against the Human for his actions over Ithor . The bafforr grove within Nadon ' s home refused to give its consent to Nadon ' s actions , threatening that it would be unable to tolerate Nadon ' s touch were he to arrange Alima ' s murder . Moments after that conversation ended , Alima entered Nadon ' s home and confronted the Ithorian . Dismissive of Nadon ' s ability to harm him , Alima shot one of the bafforr trees , splintering its trunk . He then threatened to brutally kill all the rest of Nadon ' s semi - and sentient plants if the High Priest did not track down the droids that Alima was seeking . With the death of that bafforr tree , the grove ' s intelligence reduced below true sentience . Nadon ultimately caused Alima ' s death by implicating him in the escape of the droids from Tatooine . The second grove of bafforr trees grew outside the Mos Eisley township . According to rumor , it was hidden in the mountains south of the city ; such rumors delighted younglings and provided hope to the hardy citizens of Tatooine . During the time of the Galactic Civil War , a patrol of Imperial stormtroopers discovered the grove and informed their superior , Ingah Muloha . Considering the grove to be subversive of Imperial interests , Muloha looked to frame Nadon for assorted criminal charges ; that development spooked Nadon into fleeing to Mos Eisley to protect the grove , and he was subsequently captured en route to the grove . A group of sympathetic Rebel agents rescued Nadon and delivered him to the bafforr grove . With the Imperials troops believed to be lost in a gravel storm and Nadon ' s criminal record wiped by Rebel spies , the bafforr grove ' s safety was maintained .