Violet Tetralobe

Artwork

Weight:
19lbs

The **Violet Tetralobe** (*Ingratiaflos purpura*) is an original species created and designed by TheAgent41. The Violet Tetralobe inhabits the *The Hole* universe, an original universe created by TheAgent41.

## Appearance and Anatomy

The violet tetralobe is a small floravite that primarily inhabits rainforest-like environments. Like all floravites, the tetralobe appears to be a plant but is actually more accurately described as a "plantimal", having both plant and animal characteristics. Like a plant, it is rooted in one spot and can produce its own food, but like an animal, it has both a circulatory system and nervous system. The violet tetralobe stands just under three feet in height and generally weighs less than twenty pounds. True to its name, the violet tetralobe is a dark purple in color.

The tetralobe, like other members of its suborder, possesses four large lobes that can colloquially be compared to leaves or flower petals. This both is and isn't an apt comparison. While it is true that these lobes are responsible for absorbing heat from the sun for thermosynthesis, they are also responsible for storing the organism's juices. These lobes are essentially transparent bags of purple juice, a juice that is produced by the creature as a waste product. Each lobe is equal in size, a characteristic common in all members of its taxonomic family.

The center of the tetralobe's "flower" contains what looks at first glance to be a single red eye. This is merely a highly convincing eyespot. Its purpose is unknown, although it may be a remnant from a hypothetical period in Achlys's evolutionary history in which sight involving the visible light spectrum was dominant. In this case, it may have been designed to frighten predators, much like the eyespots on certain moths. Inside the center of the "flower" is both the heart and reproductive organs of the tetralobe.

## Ecology

### Behavior and Intelligence

Violet tetralobes, along with the other members of its genus, have evolved to become a parasite. The most common host of the tetralobe is the Siamese twisting tree, a species that makes up most of the forests it inhabits. The tetralobe uses the muscular roots at the base of its stalk to dig into the tree's flesh, vampirically siphoning nutrients from its bloodstream. Like other floravites, its nervous system is basically a simple nerve net with no actual brain, preventing it from displaying any real conscious behaviors.

### Diet

Because the tetralobe gains nearly all of its energy from its twisting tree host, it rarely, if ever, needs to open its lobes to engage in thermosynthesis, making its genus a rarity among floravites. Thus, it actually spends most of its time with its "flower" closed. It is thought that this parasitic lifestyle evolved out of necessity, as the massive heat fronds of the twisting trees absorbed most of the sun's incoming heat and prevented the tetralobe's ancestors from getting sufficient energy.

### Reproduction

The tetralobe is a textbook example of adapting in such a way so as to make your biggest predator carry your babies, as strange as that sounds. The juices contained in the tetralobe's four lobes are the favorite food of the aurantica (*Calostupeus aurantiaco*). The aurantica has learned how to trick the tetralobe into blooming by simulating incoming sunlight with its Calorus Orb. When the tetralobe blooms, the aurantica pierces the lobes with its bayonet, allowing it to consume the flowing juices. While this would seem to be harmful to the tetralobe, the tetralobe actually heals wounds in its lobes very quickly, sometimes as soon as an hour or two. Moreover, the tetralobe has adapted in such a way that it can turn this attack in its favor. When a lobe is pierced, the tetralobe instinctively releases reproductive pods into its lobes, causing them to be consumed by the aurantica along with the juices. This allows the tetralobe to spread its reproductive pods through the aurantica's feces. Because auranticas generally defecate in the trees, the pod will automatically be deposited on a twisting tree into which it can immediately dig its roots.

## Trivia

* The scientific name *Ingratiaflos purpura* loosely translates from Latin as "purple unpleasant flower".

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