Crystal Gazebo

The Crystal Gazebo split off from its ancestor and focused more on height than width. Early in its life, its “branches” are similar to its ancestor’s but arranged flatter and very thick. But after it reaches a width of about 4 meters, the underground portions of its roots become vertical—creating a ring of strong erect “legs” that hold its roof high up off the ground when its growth slowly “pulls” these out of the sediment. The top of the roof is completely covered in crystals, letting very little light reach the range of its its shadow unfiltered. These adaptations allow it to have most of its photosynthesizing surface exposed to open air, where sunlight is the strongest.

Thanks to its hardy spores and the ocean’s currents, the crystal gazebo is present in a large portion of the world. It is a ring species, meaning that neighboring populations can interbreed but those on opposite ends of the “ring”, if they were to somehow meet, cannot.

The crystal gazebo is otherwise similar to its ancestor. Portions of its trunk that are exposed to air develop stomata-like structures which allow it to respire directly from the atmosphere, and it reproduces using hardy water-borne spores—the hardiness of which being what allows it to cross oceans, like its ancestor.