Emerald Crystals

Emerald Crystals are various hardy crystal plants named for their distinctive hexagonal, flat-topped shape like that of a real-world emerald crystal. Owing in part to their budding ability, they usually grow in colonial clusters. These clusters share nutrients with one another, though they are still technically several separate individuals. Their sex roots grow far away from the clusters, spreading out over a wide area underground to increase their reach so that they may interbreed with other Emerald Crystal clusters much farther away. This strategy allows them to take advantage of limited light or resources without isolating themselves genetically. They may still carpet the ground in areas without much other flora.

With their broad range, Emerald Crystals live in a myriad of environments. As crystal flora, they are already quite hardy and resistant to heat, cold, and desiccation alike. They can even break through rock with their roots, assisting in soil formation in barren environments and allowing them to thrive up in the mountains. Their main regional adaptations are broader root networks in drier habitats and darker, wider crystals in cold environments. Riparian species also exist, using strong, broad root networks to hold themselves in place and incidentally reduce erosion.