Bone Fern (carnivorous plant)

==Overview==
 thumb |right | 300px | The carnivorous Bone Fern. Its seed pods have psychoactive and hallucinogenic properties. This is a low-growing shrub, with a thick cluster of rich green fronds at its base. The flowers, up to five in number, rise on thin stalks. The base of the flower is a pitcher, filled with a thick, sweet digestive enzyme. The top of the flower has more traditional petals, deep violet or red in hue, to attract the insects it preys upon. It bears seeds atop brown woody stalks in late fall, which mature in winter. The pods that contain the seeds resemble vertebrae and rattle in the wind when mature, hence the name "Bone Fern."
==Terrain==
Its natural habitat is the Blackskull Forest in Hasseran. This plant prefers moist, shallow soil and deep shade. It has, however, been found in other areas of Hasseran, sprouting from the bloody ground where its discoverer and cultivator, the aershaa Bone Stalker of Death Troop, has made a kill. The plants outside of Blackskull are much smaller, and rarely bloom. It seems to thrive on the carnage left behind by the aershaa that carries its seeds with her, though it is not long-lived outside of Blackskull.
==Uses==
The flower gives off a sickeningly sweet smell, similar to rotting meat, which attracts insects to its pitcher, where they are digested by the flower's enzymes and used as nutrients to help it form seed pods. The seeds within the bone-like pods are small and black, and act as a psychoactive and hallucinogenic substance when consumed in small quantities. They inspire visions and hallucinations, which makes them useful in shamanic practices. But the seeds are poisonous in greater quantities, and can lead to uncontrollable vomiting, dehydration, and potentially death.The seeds have a slightly nutty taste to them, but are fatal to smaller creatures such as rikkita and lappir who consume them. The rest of the plant is horribly inedible, with a harsh, bitter taste. The petals can, however, be used to take the edge off of the hallucinogenic effects of the seeds if too many have been consumed.
==In Culture==
The existence of this plant is not widely known, and so is not in widespread use. The only seed-bearing specimens exist in the Blackskull Forest, the domain of the Death Troop aershaa pack. Due to this, it has not come to the attention of furrs or humans, aside from the immature and short-lived plants that are scattered by Bone Stalker outside of the forest wherever she travels.Bone Stalker herself uses the seeds to assist in her communion with the realm of spirits and her god, the Black Aershaa.
Category:Plants