Terra Grove

Eventually, landfall groves which could produce airborne, pollen-like spores developed. This resulted in the first fully terrestrial macro species on Sagan 4—the Terra Grove. Spreading over foundations already created by microbes, the landfall grove covers eastern Glicker, Darwin, and Barlowe in a great crystalline forest. As it already had features that proved useful in surviving on land, it is barely modified from its ancestor, except that now, as it grows new roots, older ones are “pulled” out of the ground and become branches. This makes it able to truly fill the tree-like niche in its new terrestrial home, soaking in the sunlight with its shimmering crystals free from predation at this early age. After death, its decomposition covers the ground in reddish, mineral-rich soil.