Wyrmscale

Wyrmscale is a form of lichen native to Tullis Island, and is particularly prevalent in the southwestern area of the island surrounding Scale Rock.   Wyrmscale exemplifies one of Astaeria's most successful symbiotic relationships. It's striking golden colour and scale-like appearance is widely thought to resemble the skin of the desert wyrms native to the Ember Isles thus the name Wyrmscale.  

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Two species are better than one...

  Though wyrmscale is plant-like in appearance, it is actually a lichen, a hybrid colony of fungus and algae which works symbiotically in a way which is mutually beneficial for both species. The fungi essentially uses the algae as food, deriving its nutrients from it, and even cultivates it in a similar way to how a farmer might cultivate crops.   In return the fungus adds structure to the colony, giving the algae the protection it needs to thrive.   Wyrmscale flourishes in the warm, temperate climate of Tullis Island's southwestern coast, and even gives the famous Scale Rock its name.   The lichen sticks to rocks like clumpy paint, and in periods following rainfall, it glows iridescently, bathing rocks and trees in a yellowy-golden glow.  

Uses

  Ingesting too much Wyrmscale can be largely toxic for most Elvaran peoples and can even cause a condition known as Bileskin Sickness, but that hasn't stopped the lichen being used for food.   Wyrmscale has been used historically by those native to Tullis Island to make a pungent style of tea, and as a thickener to stews and soups.   In the periods of famine during the Age of Unbearable Sorrow though, Wyrmscale was dried and imported in vast quantities to the large cities of mainland Elvara, where it was used to make a bitter porridge or 'thick milk' to ease the hunger of the starving population.   Wyrmscale is still used today as a foodstuff amongst the poorest elvarans, though it's now widely recommended that one boils the lichen in ash-water for at least one hour to remove bitterness and toxins.   Perhaps its most common use today is as an antiseptic which can be added to a poultice and put onto the skin to treat external wounds, though it can also be used in the textile industry to create a potent yellow dye.