Submission (#5628) Approved

Dearest Zephyr, in preperation for the upcoming  field trip, please finish this recommended reading from my book,  Adventures in Flora: A Cheery Chipmunk's Notes and Guide to Flora Eyre-Wide :

A region densely populated by forests, mountains, rivers and waterfalls, Kyendi finds itself host to a number of unique flora. One such plant is the Spirit Sunpetal, a type of flower that thrives in the floating Sunshard Isles of Kyendi. It can be identified by a large bulb with a loose, almost whimsical stem, usually growing altogether in sets of three. By all means, the bulb should be too heavy for the Sunpetal's whispy stem to support, but the gravitational shifts of the isles help to keep the flower's heads up and able to face the sun.

The Spirit Sunpetal, named in homage to the forgotten spirits and old ruins of the region, sports yellowish (or orangeish) shimmering petals when in full bloom. A beautiful sight to see, some do consider them quite tragic. For one, their blooming period is quite short-lived, and once they expire their beautful petals detatch and drift gently upward to either disintegrate or become lost to the misty skies above. Many folktales have been woven about the plant, as more superstitious elnin and faefolk link them to lost or wandering spirits that find themselves stuck in the floating islands' gravitational pull. 

While Eyre is a land of magic, some Elnin researchers have found 'scientific' reasonings for the flowers' properties. The Spirit Sunpetal only grows on the floating isles of Kyendi, its life cycle inherently linked to the yellow and orange floating crystals of the area. The flowers themselves are of small or average size, but their roots are far-reaching, durable, and pervasive. If able to latch on to small fragments or deposits of sunshard crystal, these flowers will grow to latch onto them similarly to an ivy. This sometimes leaves small clusters of  Spirit Sunpetals floating and twirling a slow gravitational dance near Kyendi's numerous waterfalls and riverbeds. A well-fed, well-watered flower has been known to produce  manableed-like trails not unlike the 'Inner Fire' sometimes found in Kyendi elnin's eyes. Understandibly, this combined with their shimmering properties and slight crystalline glow can give the impression of will-o-wisps or wandering souls to less informed or unobservant travelers. It's rumored that once, and elnin with a hallowed gaze made an entire cluster of them turn white upon approach, but this has curiously not been able to be replicated or verified by modern researchers.

Spirit Sunpetals have recently been found to take decently to greenhouses, so long as Sunshard crystals are accessible to them. And while they themselves have no medicinal or magical properties of note other than those gleaned from the crystals they feed upon, they are popular gifts amongst more spiritual or occultish 'nin. Yellow varieties are found to have a more potent glow, and orange strains tend to shimmer in sunlight better than it's yellow cousin. 

What other plants do you think could be using the Sunshard crystals as a food source? Please submit your essay of appropriate length before the trip, Zephyr! Every student will be reading theirs aloud, and you're forbidden from making yours up on the spot again.
- Ms. Arabella