Ɔt̪ɛm tʃɛsɪl

The tʃɛsɪl is a genus of herb (ɔt̪ɛm family) found in open woodland ecosystems. It grows in tandem with the tree genus k'ɔlin, and the amphibian genus ðɪkəgu nɛmaθ

## Biology:

### Descriptions:

#### ɔt̪ɛm tʃɛsɪl (Tree-Stripe Ivy):

This is a genus of climbing herbs which occur in open woodland ecosystems. It lives exclusively on the tree genus ‘k'ɔlin’, maintaining an obligate symbiotic relationship. The vine itself is typically blue toned and saturated or pale, with the underside of the leaves, and the young leaves, covered with a dark (sometimes black) down. The leaves are trifoliate and obcordate, with a climbing tendril reaching from the underside of each leaf base - thus three tendrils for each trifoliate leaf set.The leaf sets are loosely spaced.

The flowers emerge from buds in the fork of the vine stem, and grow downwards (or down-ish for those growing from vine forks on the upper side of the tree branches). The flowers have an inferior ovary, six discrete orbicular sepals in a single whorl, and 3012 very long spathulate petals which hand loosely. The gently pointed tip has three spots along the midline, with the smallest at the tip and the largest in the middle of the three. The petals are pure white with the spots in a dark and/or highly saturated colour, depending on the species.

The fruit is ovular, with the longest diameter parallel to the stem and ~1 ðɛmɪ. The two other diameters are ~2/3 ðɛmɪ. The skin is smooth and is covered in dark down while unripe, which sheds upon ripening. The pattern on the skin and its colour does vary with species, but is often messily striped parallel to the stem in highly saturated blues and purples, with small spots of pinker colours. The fruit has a rind under the skin, which is ~0.0612 ðɛmɪ thick and near white, and the flesh easily peels away from it. The flesh itself is creamy in colour and the texture is soft, squishy, and springy (potato left in the pantry for several months and is now super squishy (mochi-mochi)). The fruit is often referred to as simply ‘tʃɛsɪl’, regardless of species or that that is actually the name of the whole plant, which is instead referred to as the tʃɛsɪl (species) herb.

This fruit does not contain seeds, they are instead held inside a seed pod just above the fruit on the stem, which consists of two cups fused together. When the seal is broken, there are 1612 small round seeds released, each attached to a three bladed spiralling wing, which disperse in the wind.

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#### ʃʔmoθ k'ɔlin (Melon Tree):

This is a genus of trees which occur in open woodland ecosystems. It lives near exclusively with the herb genus ‘tʃɛsɪl’, but those who do not grow with that species do not live more than a decade as they would fall over. The trunk and branches of the tree are typically red/pink toned, dark and desaturated. Living with the tʃɛsɪl herb results in a gnarled, crooked, and bent tree covered in spiralling vines. The leaves are reniform in shape and pale pink.

The flowers are in tight inflorescences of three, with each flower having a stipule forming a pseudo petal, which is pale yellow, orbicular and tipped with a small spathulate appendage. The flowers themselves have three corolla whorls consisting each of 3012 short cuneate petals, which are bright red-orange to warm bright yellow. In the middle of the inflorescence is a single awn.

There is a single fruit for each flower, which are 0.312 ðɛmɪ parallel to the stem and shaped like a fat claw, with a sealed pocket in the centre of the three. The fruit has a woody shell which is a little darker than the branches, smooth and shiny. Underneath that is a thin, bright red, extremely sour layer of pith, within which is a liquid centre. This liquid has the opacity and viscosity of milk, and is bright yellow-orange. In the pocket between the fruit, the seeds are held. These seeds are very small and flat, with one large wing and one small wing. The wings are edged in velcro-like hooks along the edges, which hook perfectly onto the seeds of the tʃɛsɪl plant.

The english name is a misnomer, as it relates to the fruit of the tʃɛsɪl plant, which was originally thought to be part of the tree itself as opposed to a separate, if obligatory symbiotic, organism.

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#### ðɪkəgu nɛmaθ (Spotted Kangaroo Squirrel):

This is a genus of amphibians which occur in open woodland ecosystems. It has a head-to-butt length of 1 ðɛmɪ, with a tail that is slightly longer. It has a rounded head with a short flat-ended trunk, very large binocular eyes (three pointed star pupil), and double lobed ears with a small pocket joining the two rounds. The jaw is heavily muscled with an enlarged  cranial crest on the skull. Additionally the cheeks have pouches in them, leading to exceptionally chubby cheeks. The dentition consists of a single pair of continuously growing self-sharpening incisors on the upper and lower jaws, a single pair of reduced canines only on the upper jaw, and three pairs of flat, continuously growing molars. The trunk is very sensitive to both touch and smell, and is very flexible. The flat tip to it is regularly triangular in shape with one of the points facing down. There are three tear-drop shaped nostrils which can be closed.

The pelt is mostly the same colour as the ‘k'ɔlin’ tree in which it lives, but is covered in white spots of variable size, with mostly larger spots near the spine and mostly smaller spots on the belly. There is also a full-body crest of slightly longer white fur which can be erected. The underside of the prehensile tail is hairless and the exposed skin is dark. The sides of the body are slightly lighter in colour than the belly and back.

The limbs are long but are bent most of the time. The hind limbs are longer than the fore, and when moving on the ground it hops around on its hind toes. The hind limbs also have a membrane between the hocks and around a quarter of the way along the tail.

The paws of the forelimb have three digits, with the inner digit opposable to the other two (which are equal in length). The pads are large at the base of each long curved claw, with a wide pad at the base of the two main digits, and a rounded square pad on the opposite side of the lower palm to the opposable digit.

The paws of the hindlimb also have an opposable digit on the inside side, but the middle digit is much thicker and longer than the outer two, which are about the same size. The foot is very long, but the only pads are at the base of the claws and the base of the toes, and that one has three conjoined rounds, where the largest is at the base of the largest toe, with one of the smaller round directly below, and the other round is next to it on the outer side of the larger pad.

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### Interactions:

The tʃɛsɪl forms an integral structure of the k'ɔlin tree. It spirals around the branches and shapes them, ultimately bringing the tree to its typical gnarled and crooked form. If the tʃɛsɪl was not present, the k'ɔlin would simply grow straight up, and topple within a decade, but it is rare that the tree seeds germinate without an attached herb seed, and the herb seed never germinates without a tree seed. With the tʃɛsɪl, it stays lower as it grows and thickens, and the tree ultimately gains a higher density in relation to cross-sectional area and thus is more resistant to the ever present winds. The tʃɛsɪl also requires θɛʃɾəɾi in order to reproduce in two stages. Firstly the petals of the flower are removed by cutting a brittle part of the base of the petal, at least one of the petals has to be removed this way in order for the flower to produce fruit. The petals are often used to make petal powder for flower soup. When the fruit ripens, it has to be removed via breaking the seal of the seed pod with claws. The seeds burst out and the fruit is separated from the plant. This alters in preparation for an era change, in which thick-shelled seeds are inside the flesh of the fruit instead.

Both the tʃɛsɪl and the k'ɔlin flower year round, with the k'ɔlin flowering in response to the tʃɛsɪl starting to fruit. The flowers have very small nectaries which are quickly emptied by a present nɛmaθ, and that triggers the fruiting process. The nɛmaθ relies on scent queues to detect when the k'ɔlin fruit is ripe, and then splits apart the seed chamber between to eat the seeds. Many of them disperse before the nɛmaθ can eat them from the pocket, and some fall to the ground. The ones on the ground are also eaten by a nɛmaθ, and prevent competition between the tree and its offspring. The fruit is not eaten by a nɛmaθ, as they do not like the intensely sour pith, and are either collected by θɛʃɾəɾi or fall to the ground to be eaten by ground-dwelling foragers.

A nɛmaθ also produces year round, and is pregnant much of its adult life as long as conditions are suitable. The gestation lasts ~2612 days and a single large and very well formed baby is born (~0.412 ðɛmɪ head-to-butt length). It lives for ~6 days in the nest woven from grass in the corners of the k'ɔlin branches, and from thenceforth is fully weaned and independent from the parent at ~0.612 ðɛmɪ. It takes a further ~5012 days to grow to full size and become sexually mature. The parent of a baby will not begin another pregnancy until the baby is weaned or lost.

A nɛmaθ spends much of the day foraging, there are often many individuals, most of which are related, in a single tree, but are not particularly socially inclined after weaning and do not interact much barring spats over food or nesting spots. If the number of individuals exceeds the carrying capacity of a tree, the least competitive individuals (often the pre-mature individuals) are forced to disperse. They also forage on the ground, and can travel at speed by hopping. Ground-trips are often made during the middle of the day, and are used to forage and to collect nesting material to build or repair their woven grass nests, which act as both nurseries and night-time nests. Their diet is made up predominantly of seeds, but also includes amounts of new leaves, fruit, and carrion. They often bring scavenged bones back to their nest to chew on for the nutrient rich marrow (if present) or the minerals in the bone itself, as well as maintaining their teeth.