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ERC Tree

PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:34 pm
by Jennifer_P
I made this a long time ago for the ERC Age, but only now have gotten around to posting it. :)
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This is a tree which clings in rocky crevices on the slopes of the mountainside. It stores water in its thick trunk, which serves as a rooting system that expands to mold around surrounding rocks. These rocks help it remain immovably attached to the slope instead of getting blown away or washed out in heavy rains.

Re: ERC Tree

PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:32 am
by ametist
Good idea! Is it a coniferous - type tree? And now you must show it in colour too! 8-)

Re: ERC Tree

PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:44 am
by Ruvinka
Too cool! If the trunk grows around rocks it could grow into really imaginative shapes with hollows and furroughs.
It makes we wonder how much animal and even plant life might also cling to this tree, which presents itself as the perfect water and food source for herbavores.

Re: ERC Tree

PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:17 pm
by Jennifer_P
Is it a coniferous - type tree? And now you must show it in colour too! 8-)

I'm thinking it has edible berries that are consumed by rock lizards so that the seeds would be deposited (with a bit of fertilizer) in some other crevice or burrow. And insect pollination. I'm imagining these trees as being pretty few and far between, so throwing pollen into the air en masse just wouldn't do.

Too cool! If the trunk grows around rocks it could grow into really imaginative shapes with hollows and furroughs.

Oh yeah; and you could also make a mold around it with a shape you wanted filled, then water the tree excessively until the tree bulged to fill the shape of the mold. Then you could remove the mold and a nice tree trunk sculpture would be left. :)

It makes we wonder how much animal and even plant life might also cling to this tree, which presents itself as the perfect water and food source for herbivores.

I think the tree would be growing in fairly inaccessible rocky areas, although I bet that some small animals snack off of it. The water would be stored inside the trunk, so it would take some gnawing through bark and inner wood to get at it. You'd have to be a beaver to get in I think. By the way, I think the ERC Age needs giant beavers to build natural log dams over streams. :)

Re: ERC Tree

PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:17 am
by Jennifer_P
I'm going to call this tree the "20 gallon tree" in reference to the water it stores in its trunk. :)

Re: ERC Tree

PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:36 am
by Naigahsehn
Jennifer_P wrote:I'm going to call this tree the "20 gallon tree" in reference to the water it stores in its trunk. :)


Oooh! Umm, I had a preliminary idea - many months ago - for an age, with a tree which could hold ample amounts of water. I no longer want to use the concept, but I do have a name for such a tree: "Draughlater" ("draugr"+"lagr", Nordic for "tree-trunk water"). If you want, you could use this name? I don't mind :)

Re: ERC Tree

PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:25 am
by Jennifer_P
Wow, that is a cool name...it makes me think of a cup-like plant that you could take a draught of water out of if you wanted to. I'm attached to the name "20 gallon tree" already, but how about we create a related species of water-gathering plant and use "draughlater" on it? I'd hate to see a good name go to waste. :)

Re: ERC Tree

PostPosted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:25 pm
by Naigahsehn
No problem - that'd be great :)

Re: ERC Tree

PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:00 am
by Jennifer_P
Good; I'll get on it then. I've already started on ametist's tree too, so we should have some plant models going soon. :)

Re: ERC Tree

PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:35 am
by ametist
Here's a little attempt to imagine a '20gallontree-lizard' :D As you (hopefully) can see, it has a 'third leg' (actually it has six legs this critter :lol: )to help it grip the berries. On its back a 'decoration' which is good for camouflage and to lure females with 8-)
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