THE
AZURE
FLOWER
("COUGHING
FLOWER") |
The Azure
Flower or Azure Spitting Flower, commonly also called the Coughing Flower or
simply Cough, is a ped tall plant with a single azure blue flower. Commonly
found near fresh water sources it has the
ability to produce and spit highly corrosive acid.
Appearance. The
Coughing Flower in appearance looks like a smooth bulbus flower, half a palmspan
wide at the bottom whilst being a nailbreadth at the tip. The
top has a lip on the end that extends only half way down the flower, the
acid the flower produces can be seen dripping down the side of the flower as it
seems to be continually producing it. As the plant matures the flower will
become a bright blue, the flower itself is connected to a thin stalk which
protrudes from the ground, around which small roots can also be seen to protrude
through small nailsbreadth holes in the ground and are up
to 3-4 peds in length. These roots are colored red, the color of which is
caused by an excreted syrup which the plant uses to neutralize the acid it
produces and attract insects. These roots also move in jerking motions of which
spread the syrup around the plant making the ground around it immune to its
acid. The plant itself has no foliage nor any other
remarkable features.
The syrup from the roots of the plant emits a foul smell which helps attracting
insects, the flower will then sense the movement of the insects in the air and
will spit small drops of acid at the insects by facing the flower toward the
insect compressing itself and leaving only a small opening in its lip, by doing
this the plant can shoot acid up to 30 peds away but the plant will only attack
insects within 1-2 peds distance from the flower itself. Due to the amount of
acid the flower produces it can do this indefinitely. The roots then collect the
insect once it has fallen to the ground, during which the syrup on the ground
around the plant will neutralize the plant's acid, and will pull it underground
through the small holes the roots protrude from. This is thought to be the way
the plant itself feeds. It has also been noted that the flower itself is somehow
invisible to insects as sometimes they can be seen flying into the flower.
Territory.
This flower can be found near any source of fresh
water,
although it seems to be more prominently found in forest regions.
Usages.
Although highly corrosive the acid the flower produces can be collected by
cutting off the flower itself. This does not kill the flower as it will grow a
new one. This acid, once diluted with water,
is very efficient at removing rust off metal and can also be used to clean
wounds as any wounds cleaned by the acid seems to heal faster. This diluted form
when mixed with various fruit juices is also an alcohol of sorts, although only
the bravest person would drink it.
The red syrup the roots produces is edible but becomes
an extremely mild poison when mixed with the acid from the plant, this poison
only affects insects so it is thought that this is the plant's
way of stopping insects from attacking the roots, but other plants will thrive
near the Azure Plant.
Therefore it is common to make this poison a very
potent insecticide not only due to its foul smell, which attracts insects, but
also for its ability to kill insects.
Although the usefulness of the plant would make its cultivation worthwhi
the plant also poses danger
to anyone who wanders near the plant.
Reproduction.
The Azure Flower reproduces by sending out suckers, which never move more than a
few peds away from a source of
water,
these suckers normally run for 10-12 peds length before becoming a new plant.
Information provided by
Quegon
|