The Star of the Woods

Not all Podocisor species are killers; the sister species to the grab-basket is, by contrast, totally harmless to animal life. The Star of the Woods (P. innocens) lives in closed-forest environments just like its carnivorous cousin, though usually at lower elevations. Like the grab-basket, its prairie-basket ancestors found themselves struggling for light when they became trapped in this environment near the end of the Early Arthrocene. Instead of turning to heterotrophy, this species has adapted to claim every drop of scarce light that reaches the ground, a feat it accomplishes by smothering every other plant that tries to sprout near it.

Upon emerging from the central rosette, a leaf unfurls into an elongated kite shape - pinched at the base to make room for other leaves, widest at about 10 centimeters along its length, then tapering gradually to a sharp end. The blade may measure up to half a meter long at this stage, and as it rolls out across the forest floor, it covers any competition. But its work is not done yet. Like many grasses (including nearly all basket-grasses), the star of the woods' leaves grow indeterminately, with the narrow petioles elongating until the plant's total diameter can measure up to three meters. Like the grab-basket, it has the ability to curl and uncurl its leaves when given the proper stimulus, which in this case is the sensation of another plant growing underneath it despite its best efforts to shade it out. When this happens, the triggered blade will lift off the ground, then push down again with great force. This motion is orders of magnitude slower than the raptorial leaves of the grab-basket, but in exchange it is much stronger; a well-placed blow can, over the course of several hours, break small saplings with stems as thick as 2 centimeters.