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Ancestor:
Temporal Range:
Temporal Range:
Evolved: Around 70,000 Yh (By 100,000 Yh)
Extinct: Not yet.
Geographical Range:
Geographical Range:
Location: Mid-South Catland at a latitude lower than the hot desert climate zone, but not in the forests or dense shrubland. It is spreading East.
Viable Habitat: Digitgrass plains, Elderberry shrubland and disturbed floodplains.
Needs:
Needs:
Sun: Tolerant of dithered or filtered sun, but grows most vigorously in direct sunlight. They do however die back at the tips when temperatures exceed metabolic limits, they are not thermophilic. Beyond around around 30°C they start to suffer. They are also not tolerant of snow or frost so are not found in climates where these commonly occur.
Growth medium: Prefers neutral pH soil but can tolerate slightly acidic or slightly alkaline. Tolerant of nutrient poor or rocky soils, although it thrives best in rich grassland soil with plenty of drainage.
Water: It is drought resistant once established, outlasting harsh dry seasons or locations with extreme drainage and poor water retetntion by limiting it's water further back to the roots as it runs out. However when young it is sensitive and needs regular rain, but not flooding. Established plants are intolerant of flooding also.
Size: Shrub ball up to 40-70 cm tall and wide (excluding trails)
Life Cycle: Begins as a seed encased in a papery nutlet with other seeds. Either the seeds fall out or the nutlet falls off onto the soil. Shoots can split into branches by growth of lateral buds. New shoots grow out of the soil via short rhizomes which helps form a short, dense shrub ball. Seeds germinate in the spring and floresce throughout the summer months, continually dropping seed and growing new flowering shoots. Flowers have both male and female parts and can self-fertilise, though cross-pollination by the planet's few insects and occasionally mice is more helpful genetically for the population. Grows foliage branches as a small perennial herbaceous shrub, but also grows longer trailing branches with the flowers that ideally should be supported by the digitgrass. These trailing branches are double annual, they dry out and flake off when the digitgrass dies back in end winter dry season, and also if monsoons fail or are insufficient in the summer. The flowering growth coincides with digitgrass growth, during and after monsoon storms and after the gentler rains that bring relief from winter in the spring. In hotter areas also the plant can keep it's foliage throughout the winter months as long as there is enough water.
Other: Their vigor is great as they are constantly suppressed by digitgrass. As a result when they take over more barren habitats they can create dense, bushy balls and sprawling mats of flowering stems. The stem is cuboidal rather than cylindrical, this is like other mints. It can be seen easily if the stem is cut.
It is sharply aromatic so that it's a less desirable choice of food than the other plants. Rabbits will still eat them but more reluctantly during lean times.
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