Asterplent

Replacing the Skydrift Leafstar, the Asterplent is true to its name in convergent evolution. It is proportionally taller than its ancestor, a result of an enlarged reproductive organ for extra baby-making; its ancestral leaf-arms lay around it on the ground for support; and it bears a pair of leaf-like extensions near its reproductive opening which collect sunlight for photosynthesis. These features together grant it a striking resemblance to the Florapods which were wiped out by the solar flare nearly 50 million years prior.

The juvenile proportions of the Asterplent are also derived; the leaf-like extensions are present in them as they are in adults, and bear many frond-like structures like those on the legs of its ancestor. This frees up its leaf-arms for more efficient walking and causes it to be picked up by the wind like a dandelion seed far more easily, which together, in turn, help it to spread far and wide and increase its chances of survival. Like its ancestor, the juvenile has a slow metabolism and can travel great distances by air as aeroplankton in search of suitable places to live and it is capable of consuming microbes through its exposed root-baits. The juvenile root-baits are also lined with stomata, like its leaves, and due to their surface area they are responsible for the majority of their respiration as juveniles.

When a juvenile finds a suitable place to take root, it does so, and its muscles and nervous system atrophying aside from those used in reproduction. Its fronds fall off as its leaf extensions become longer, and it grows taller as its reproductive organ finishes developing. To increase its reproductive success, its spores are produced inside its reproductive organ and sent into the air with the same exhale-like motion used to give birth; it prevents self-pollination using parent-specific carbohydrate markers on its spores. With the sheer size of its reproductive organ and with the size of its newborns not increasing compared to its ancestor, it can have thousands of offspring at a time as long as enough spores are collected.