Myzems

With the rise of wellstalks, basal desert-grasses and other xerophytes have faced difficulty, declining worldwide in the face of harsh competition. These extreme selective pressures have promoted strange adaptations as a last-ditch effort to avoid total extinction. Myzems (Myceliophytum) are among the last survivors, living in the deserts of central Abeli. They grow slowly, relying on symbiosis to give them an edge over other plants. It is easiest to understand the myzem survival strategy as a series of stages, each of which represents an important adaptation that allows this genus to persist in a time when so many other desert-dwellers are fading away

Stage 1: A small seed drops to the ground. A gust of wind blows it a few meters away before covering it in a fine layer of sand. The grain does not germinate yet, biding its time until rain arrives.

Stage 2: It may be up to five years since the seed was buried, and finally water begins to seep through the soil. The outer shell cracks open. Before long a single, tiny leaf emerges, poking up through the moist sand. A thin root extends down, growing as deep as it can as quickly as possible.

Stage 3 (~50 days after germination): The myzem has produced a handful of additional leaves as the rain continues, only stopping once dry conditions return.

Stage 4 (~0.5 years): Flowering occurs for the first time, though the plant is still too small to produce a very large inflorescence, producing only 20-30 seeds. Leaves begin to take on a succulent form, retaining moisture as the dry season continues. Spores of a fungus called Aridomyces land on and around the myzem. 

Stage 5 (~1 year): The shape of the myzem's new blades become squatter and more compressed, taking on their mature shape. Aridomyces grows underground, with hyphae connecting to the plant's roots and extending deep underground. 

Stage 6 (~1.5 years): The myzem flowers again, this time producing up to 100 seeds with the energy it's stored over the dry season. As the fungus expands, it takes on the roles of anchoring the plant, supplying nutrients, and absorbing water for its host. At the same time, the grass's own roots begin to shrink and wither away. This allows the myzem to devote all its energy into growing its aboveground parts. The upper surface of the leaves becomes translucent, allowing light to filter into the thick tissue for ultraviolet protection and more efficient photosynthesis.

Stage 7 (~2 years): By this point, the myzem has no root system left, relying entirely on the Aridomyces to provide water, minerals, and nitrogen. The latter has matured enough to fruit for the first time, producing a handful of small mushrooms that release spores into the wind. 

Stage 8 (~3 years): Both the plant and the fungus are now fully mature, with the former measuring up to ten centimeters tall and the latter extending for several meters below the ground. Each subsequent rainfall is followed by the production of a flower stalk that can produce 500 or more seeds, as well as the rapid development of dozens of one-centimeter-wide fruiting bodies that pop out of the sand around the base of the myzem. 

The duo may live together in this way for up to 25 years. It should be noted that, like the mycad, myzems do not utilize any sort of interconnected mycorrhizal network. This relationship occurs exclusively between one Myceliophytum and one Aridomyces. One day, when Apterra returns to favorable conditions and its biosphere becomes a bit more complex, a more complex system of underground fungi might indeed emerge. 

This newly-evolved desert-grass genus is restricted in both its geographical range and the range of environments it occupies. As the partnership becomes more close-knit, though, it will soon spread to other arid regions. In fact, Aridomyces mycelia can reach even deeper than wellstalk roots, so it's not impossible that the myzems could one day overtake the other lineage in its own niche. It's certain that this fierce battle - one which will only become worse as desert flora are pushed into ever-smaller pockets of survivable habitat - will lead to more derived forms emerging as time goes on, with adaptations that will come to impact all of Apterra, far beyond the bounds of this barren land.