Chirrets (Cryopiperales)

**Chirrets**, also known as **Frost-Peppers, Chill-peppers** or **Chippers**, are a group of softspud plants that live all across southern Terra septentrionis. They are also suspected to live in northern Media insula and maybe in other continents but so far its speculative. They tend to look like small meter tall bush like plants, mostly unremarkable. If you saw a chirret bush its unlikely that it would attract much interest. ***That is until you taste their fruits**.* What has made Chirrets remarkable is their incredibly potent chemical defense, while most plants may just do physical defenses like spines to protect themselves, chirrets take the chemical route, having fruits that generally taste somewhat bitter but more importantly, ***have a chemical compound that make whatever animal ate them feel like their mouth is freezing.***

They employ a similar strategy with Earthan peppers, but in the completely different opposite direction. Earthan peppers use compounds that give them their hot and spicy feeling. Chirrets do very much the same, except that instead when you taste them, they feel incredibly cold and minty. Think of it kind off like eating mint, but 20 times stronger. This of course is a remarkably effective deterrent, since while it is not actually making the face of the animal freeze, ***it’s a very strong and negative sensory stimuli.*** Most animals once they eat a chirret, tend to learn to never again touch the bright red fruits with bright blue insides.

#### **Etymology**

The word “Chirret” is a combination of Chill+Peret, peret being a Russian word for peppers, they are also known as “Chippers” aka chill+pepper\*. Frost-peppers and Chill-pepper names are just descriptive of their pepper like intensity but with the cold tasting feeling these fruits have.

## **Coloration**

Their very bright combinations of pigments makes them quite contrasting against a mostly green background, even the bright blue insides clearly make whoever sees the fruit to think twice before eating it. The orange/bright red pigment on the outside is very similar to carotene, a pigment that makes earthan plants look bright orange, while the bright blue pigment which is still unnamed is wholly unique to the chirrets. Animals that feed on chirrets have been seen incorporating those bright pigments into their coloration, a great example is the bright blue and reddish patches in the Daemian octichin.

These “warning colors” are a case of **Aposematism**, where the chirrets warn any would be predators with their intense coloring so they don’t try to eat the fruit afterwards and leave the shrubs alone. This coloration is so effective that its rare for terrestrial animals to ever bother eating a chirret. However, for aerial animals which are usually immune, it’s an sign of invitation to eat the “tasty” fruits to help disperse the chirrets far and wide.The defense of the chirret’s is so effective that they are mostly left alone by most land animals. This would most likely prove an issue if it weren’t for their main distributers being some of the many many species of flying dispeculates that end up feeding on the chirrets. Most flying clades that eat chirrets have developed some sort of defenses to the chirret’s insanely potent compounds. These may include the many species of birb, the odd hummingbee, Scissorbeaks, and even the odd dracolodontid.

We speculate that the very similar warning colorations of the Punk Polefrog could be a case of mimicking Chirrets, due to the polefrog’s similar reddish outer skin and blue mouths. this is probably beneficial to both species since neither are palatable to eat.

## **Reproduction**

They like other softspuds, develop flowers and fruiting bodies. Their fruits however have three large “seedpods” which all have much tinier seeds inside. The fruits aswell have a very potent chemical compound that makes them taste not only very bitter but make whatever feeds on it ***feel like its face is freezing***, the only exception to that rule being fliers, like birbs which are immune to the chirret’s compounds cus they help the plant by spreading the seeds far and wide.

The flying dispeculates tend to eat the fruits whole, inside their bodies the seedpods pop, and release a ton of tiny seeds which then pass through the digestive system unharmed, only to have some fresh fertilizer and to appear kilometers away from their parent plant. This has made the chirrets highly successful, as its chemical defenses makes most other organisms leave the plant alone, and only lets their main distributers do the job of dispersing them far and wide across the land. As such, to attract such distributers, their fruits and flowers tend to be very brightly colored, resembling some tropical flowers in some cases, particularly plants from the Heliconia genus. Chirrets as a whole ***tend to have their flowers in sets of threes***, likely due to them having Hummingbees as some of their prime pollinizers, which can pollinate three flowers at the same time with their three proboscis.

## **Different Species of Chirret**

###  **The Common Chirret**

**Name:** ***Cryopiperas cryopiperas*** commonly known as Common Chirrets, Common Frostpeppers, or Common Chippers.

**Creator:**  Corax.Lara

**Clade:** Tuberphyta/softpuds/ Cryopiperales

**Habitat:** Found all across the southern temperate regions of Terra Septentrionis

**Size:** around a meter tall, some bushes growing at most 2 meters, however.

**Diet:** Photosynthetizer

**Reproduction:** Like all other Chirrets, they reproduce with fruits, however their fruit has very powerful compounds that make most organisms feel like their face is *Freezing*. They however, use mostly flying immune dispeculates to disperse their otherwise mostly inedible fruit. The fruit inside has a single “seed pod” that ruptures once in the organism’s body, spreading a ton of tiny seeds once the organisms poop them out.

    The common chirret, the herbivores bane. These small to medium sized shrubs are some of the most common plants across all of Terra Septentrionis. They have been seen, and even tasted, by residential researchers before, however never truly described. The common Chirret is part of a clade of softspud plants that have a “Freezing compound” in their fruiting bodies. Similar to how mint and other earthan plants feel somewhat cold when you bite into them. However, ***this sensation is many times stronger in chirrets than in any kind of earthan plant.*** While the Tesminian Chirret’s compounds are extremely long lasting and extraordinarily strong, much stronger than the Common Chirret’s compounds, the common Chirret’s taste still is very effective against potential predators. If you bite one of the fruits or eat it whole, **its likely that the effect will last for up to 5 minutes and leave you feeling like you just had a ton of ice stuck to your face.** This is very effective for most herbivorous or omnivorous animals curious enough to taste a chirret. Once they eat a single chirret, they likely wont ever try to eat one again in their lives.

They share a remarkably similar colorscheme to Tesminian Chirrets, reddish on the outside, bright blue on the inside. A combination very contrasting and iconic to Chirrets as a whole. Its interesting that they have similar colorations considering **they aren’t from the same genera**, however this is a common trait on all chirrets.

### **The Tesminian Chirret**

**Name:** ***Frigupipera tesminias*** commonly known as Tesminian Chirrets, Tesminian Frost-peppers or Tesminian Reapers

**Creator:**  Corax.Lara

**Clade:** Tuberphyta/ softpud/ Cryopiperales

**Habitat:** All across southern tesminia, a smaller subspecies living in the lower part of northern tesminia’s forests.

**Size:** the bush itself is a meter in size, with its fruiting bodies being around 10 cms long

**Diet:** Photosynthetizer

**Reproduction:** they like other Chirrets, develop flowers and fruiting bodies. Their fruits however have three large “seedpods” which all have much tinier seeds inside. The flesh of the fruits themselves is what has the powerful *freezing compound* which affects most animals that eat it. the only exception to that rule being fliers, like birbs which are immune to the chirret’s compounds cus they help the plant by spreading the seeds far and wide.

Sometimes known as the **“Tesminian Reaper”**, it is some of the most potent and dangerous to eat chirrets that have been currently found. They have beautiful bright purple, reddish and bluish flowers, and almost banana like looking fruit. The fruit are somewhat large for a chirret, being around 10 cms long, with three large seedpods full of tiny seeds and bright blue, minty smelling flesh. They are known to cause a very intense reaction in humans, once we recorded that the effects can last up to 6 hours before starting to fade, and **not even putting warm blankets in the faces of the people affected would keep away the intense Freezing feeling.**

One researcher said, *“Its almost as if you stuck your face inside an iceberg for hours without any way to get it to heat up.”*

    Even with such strong compounds that lasts for hours, theres many organisms that do feed on this plant's fruits. Namely ornithosmilids and other fliers. However most surprisingly, the species of Daemian Octichin tends to feed on these fruits. They were seen eating multiple types of fruit, including the ***very potent and dangerous Tesminian Chirrets***. The Daemian octichins seem to have developed mayor defenses against the freezing compounds. This is due to the parents frequently feeding the young octichins not only their insectoid prey, but many types of fruits, ***including the chirrets***. This slowly makes them not only develop the chirret resistance, but also lets them absorb the bright blue and red pigment of the chirrets. As such most Daemian octichins sport bright blue and red patches, showcasing in the skin the accomplishment that most other terrestrial animals cannot master, ***eating the freezing taste of a Frost-pepper Chirret.***

## **Human Consumption and Cuisine**

Despite their infamous reputation, ***Chirrets have actually been able to be used frequently in human consumption and cuisine***, particularly less potent more milder species are generally used in sauces or creams for desserts. The bright blue chirret sauces are particularly good when applied to cold desserts like icecream, or cold cakes, giving a refreshing and minty taste to the dessert. With the bright blue sauces serving as great decoration to the dessert, aswell as giving a more "Alien" look that many people might want in their Wallacian food.

The ***Common Chirret*** is the chirret most commonly used in Wallacian cuisine, purely due to its midler taste in comparison to more powerful and stronger tasting relatives. Even then for common consumption its taste tends to be diluted before being incorporated into any sauces or food, simply to make it more palatable.