Old man Moruk
From which all of the grass trees of Levis sprout. With a thick layered caudex (almost 20m high), hiding a girthy meristem, Moruk sports a 8m wide crown of thin rectangular prism leaves, hundreds all sprouting from the top. As Moruk ages (as all grass trees do) these leaves turn grey and soft, drooping and forming Moruk's distinctive beard.
His caudex is charred black from many a bushfire, his beard naturally burning away to protect him with each fire and allow new growth. Beneath the soil and deep in his crown he supports two colonies of mutualistic fungi, for both water absorbstion and protection against moisture rot.
Across Levis his children can be found, seeds bourne from a flowering stem he builds during the wildflower season, seeds carried during the dry season, right before the bushfire season. While Moruk is the Original, his children include the Kefbalga - a variety whose long, thin flowering stem is replaced by a cluster of bright white flowers, whose seeds are encased in a tough, fire resistant case that breaks open as it cools. Said seeds can be crushed for a chocolate like taste. Another child is the Isatalana also known as the rock-breaker. This subtype of grass tree keep the long flower stem, but grow smaller and partner with an aggressive fungus that is surcharged to grow deep into the rock s and crack them open so that the Isatalana has a place to stay. While grass trees grow everywhere across Levis, they stain the Forbidden Forest the most, with Old Man Moruk sat on the lip overlooking the Gnarled Grove, with many of his children lost trying to grow into the Grove, looking for new, untouched ground. They say one day they will succeed, evolving to survive the same way that the twisted trees of the grove have. Then at last the grove will run green.
Across Levis his children can be found, seeds bourne from a flowering stem he builds during the wildflower season, seeds carried during the dry season, right before the bushfire season. While Moruk is the Original, his children include the Kefbalga - a variety whose long, thin flowering stem is replaced by a cluster of bright white flowers, whose seeds are encased in a tough, fire resistant case that breaks open as it cools. Said seeds can be crushed for a chocolate like taste. Another child is the Isatalana also known as the rock-breaker. This subtype of grass tree keep the long flower stem, but grow smaller and partner with an aggressive fungus that is surcharged to grow deep into the rock s and crack them open so that the Isatalana has a place to stay. While grass trees grow everywhere across Levis, they stain the Forbidden Forest the most, with Old Man Moruk sat on the lip overlooking the Gnarled Grove, with many of his children lost trying to grow into the Grove, looking for new, untouched ground. They say one day they will succeed, evolving to survive the same way that the twisted trees of the grove have. Then at last the grove will run green.
It is interesting to note that the resin squeezed from dead grass tree stems can be used as a varnish or protective coating, and that fallen flower stems can be soaked to produce a liquor that is the first stage in making a Levis soap.
Children
Thank you for reading, feel free to give feedback.
Oh I like this spin on this prompt very much, this is a creative take, well done!!!!
It was this or a place of adoption for the outcasts, but that's been done a million times and I could not work out a way to do it uniquely. But thankya.