The New Sweetstalks

Sweetstalks are a clade of woodlouse-grasses that survived the Great Decarbonisation thanks to their conservative use of sugar, partnership with dustflies, and decreased reliance on arboreal isopods. At the time, they were grouped into a single genus, Culicosaccharus. After three million years of speciation, their descendants are now classified as a family unto themselves, known as Culicosaccharaceae, within the larger woodlouse-grass superfamily. Some have taken over the roles of other plants lost during the Ice Age, while others have stumbled onto new niches unseen in the Muricene. They are informally divided into two general shapes: towering or compressed. The former condition is plesiomorphic; towering sweetstalks possess a tall stem and alternating leaves, giving them a vague resemblance to their common grass ancestors. The latter term refers to sweetstalks with a squat stem and shortened internodes separating the blades, which are usually arranged distichously. Within the sweetstalk family, colorful flowers have evolved independently many times, serving to attract insects for more efficient pollination.

One of the few genera that doesn't employ such showy displays is the Jade Skystalk (Clarisaccharus), a prairie grass that has replaced the extinct amber skystalks. Growing up to two meters high, this genus would not look out of place in a lineup of Early Muricene prairie skystalks. Its florets are small and pale green or yellow, appearing inconspicuous against the surrounding grassland. A single plant may produce over a thousand of these tiny flowers, each of which provides a small meal for pollinators. As jade skystalks are incredibly common, they support equally massive dustfly populations. Therefore, while they themselves are plain-looking, they are responsible for supporting billions of little splashes of color on the prairie.

In forested habitats, the Sweetheart Bush (Virgultosaccharus) occupies the niche of Middle Muricene featherstalks, growing beneath dense canopies and providing calorie-rich foliage to woodland browsers. The size and shape of sweetheart bushes varies greatly - the smallest are no more than thirty centimeters, while some of their congenerics can top three meters. These larger forms (such as V. verbascoides) have oblong, hairy blades, while dwarf varieties like V. aroides have cardioid leaves. Sweetheart flowers are commonly seen in shades of pink or red. Taller species serve a role similar to jade skystalks, feeding an assortment of colorful forest-dwelling dustflies throughout the spring and summer, while shorter ones support shy, cryptic dustflies that stick close to the ground to avoid aerial predators.

Much rarer, found only in bright clearings within hybrid-tree forests, is the Meadowflame (Pratisaccharus). Such openings are often created by wildfires, storms, or lumbering herbivores that destroy trees. Meadowflames can only survive for about five years after such disturbances, as they cannot compete with the taller plants that eventually begin to overshadow them once again. They reach up to 15cm in width and height, growing slowly and collecting energy for many months. The stem is short enough to place it right on the boundary between towering and compressed forms. The leaves number 3-7 and are usually thick, waxy, and highly toxic to ward off most herbivores. At the end of autumn, they grow a small spike of no more than a dozen florets, each measuring about 4 centimeters across. Most meadowflame species have red or orange flowers, but they can occasionally be found in nearly every color of the rainbow. Each is borne at the end of its own spikelet, with the two glumes, palea, and lemma all expanded into beautiful petal-like structures. Large nectar deposits are stored within, promoting the evolution of large-bodied dustflies like Halteropteryx. After pollination, the pea-sized grains drop to the ground. The mature plants then die (as do all skystalks after flowering), and the seeds remain dormant until they sense the spring sunlight. This cycle repeats until the forest closes around the clearing. Once this happens, the final generation of seeds can survive for up to three decades until favorable conditions return.

Lyrus is a basal genus of sweetstalks with a compressed stem. It grows in humid forests and along riverbanks, using its roots to help stabilize loose soil. It easily germinates in the middle of dense moss beds, relying on a large, calorie-rich seed to provide energy for root growth. Its flowers are usually lavender or sky-blue, with about 20-50 on each inflorescence. Each leaf is long, flat, and rounded or blunt at its end. Like many grasses, Lyrus blades continue to increase in length throughout life. Consequently, the lower leaves are often longer than their younger counterparts, curling at the tips to create their characteristic lyre-like shape.

One of the most derived sweetstalks is the Stickstalk (Laqueosaccharus), a carnivorous bog-dweller with a taste for mosquitoes. To avoid accidentally trapping its mutualistic partners, the stickstalk holds its flowers high off the ground. Its blades are tentacle-like, secreting sweet sap from small glands along their length. This is chemically distinct from the nectar produced by the flowers, being aromatic to attract prey and sticky to ensure it can't escape. The majority of its targets are whiplashers and non-dustfly sugarflies, though passing Plague woodlice must also steer clear on their travels. Once stuck, the victim drowns in the sap and begins to decompose, with its flesh being absorbed by the surface of the blade. At this point in their evolution, stickstalks are still rather inefficient predators; their leaves do not curl or snap shut to ensnare prey, nor do they have specialized digestive enzymes for extracting as many nutrients as possible. As a result, over 75% of insects that land on stickstalks end up escaping. Unlike pitcher-baskets, though, they are obligate carnivores, as their environment is too nitrogen-poor to sustain them otherwise. 

Forming the sister taxon to stickstalks, the Trichopileads (subfamily Trichopilioideae) are a diverse group that shares their cousin's ability to absorb vital nutrients through their leaves. Instead of glands, their blades are dotted with thin, hair-like trichomes. Genera like the Duneflower (Xerosaccharus) use this to their advantage in arid habitats, absorbing rain, dew, and fog that condenses from the morning air. In the barren soils of the desert, they also benefit from their ability to take in nitrogen and other necessary trace elements that land on their foliage. The roots serve only to anchor the plant, digging deep into the loose sand to avoid being blown away. Like all members of this subfamily, their flowers are small and bright red in color. In the duneflower's case, they remain open for only a day or two. After pollination, they close to avoid losing too much water.

Tropical rainforests are home to a different branch of the trichopilead clade. These are known as Branchblooms (Ramisaccharus) and grow epiphytically in the canopies of hybrid palm-grasses. Like duneflowers, their roots help them remain firmly attached, while their fine, white hairs absorb all the water and nutrients the plant needs. Branchblooms are one of the few epiphytes tolerated by arboreal isopods, as they do not damage the trees they grow upon. In fact, many generations of branchblooms can gradually build a layer of rich soil on palm-grass branches, helping to feed the tree and, by proxy, its symbiotes. In return, the woodlice defend the branchbloom from the Plague and other threats, making this genus one of the few sweetstalks to retain a close relationship with crustaceans.

Unfortunately, other trichopileads are not so kind to their hosts. Twigstranglers (Kleptosaccharus) grow so aggressively that, if unchecked, they often kill plants that fail to defend against them. Like the old remnant shadeblades, they will be purged by arboreal woodlice if detected early, but once they reach a certain size they generally take over rapidly, starving the tree for sunlight. Unlike branchblooms, they are equally at home in pseudotrees like basket-bushes, chainanas, and chaintrees. This increases the range of biomes they can inhabit, and twigstranglers are common in savanna and temperate woodlands, while their cousins are for now restricted to equatorial zones.