Tree-poline

A tree-poline is a plant native to the planet Vilavurs. It is easily identifiable by its grassy, flattened upper portion, or platform, and its stem, which is capable of extending itself based on the height of the sun in the sky.

Appearance and Behavior
A typical tree-poline is composed of two components: a base and a platform.

Base
A tree-poline's base has two different states of behavior, both triggered by a phototropic reaction. When the level of ambient light around it is low, its stem occupies a resting state, sitting fairly low to the ground; it is also very elastic when at rest. This rest configuration of the plant resembles a large bobbin wrapped completely in thick cord lying on its side.

When the plant is exposed to sunlight, however, the plant enters its active state; it extends upward, and the stem elongates, thinning dramatically in the process. In its active state, the plant can grow to towering heights, exceeding 100 feet (30 m) in height, which lifts its platform high above the surrounding foliage and reduces the competition for sunlight. The plant also hardens significantly in the process, allowing it to weather external factors such as wind, weather, and any wildlife landing on the platform.

Platform
The head consists of a flattened disk from 25 to 30 feet (8-9 m) in diameter and about one foot (0.3 m) thick, which is covered in a carpet of green grass-like foliage which extends from the top of the disk around the sides. The underside of the head has no grass and is connected to the base. The upper portion of the stem diverges into a number of smaller branches, which permeate the underside of the head and hold it in place.

The grassy foliage is the only part of the plant that engages in photosynthesis, and is often mixed with star-shaped flowers; however, it is unknown whether these star-shaped flowers are a fruiting body of the tree-poline or simply another organism that operates in tandem with them. The platform, like the base, is soft and springy in its resting state; an object falling on the surface of the plant's platform would be thrown back into the air by its elastic rebound.

Discovery
Tree-polines were discovered by the members of Group B-5 in the year AD 2063, when they landed on Vilavurs as the first of the planets they visited on their journey. Their first foray into the forest led them to find, among many other fungi-like types of foliage, tree-polines; most of them immediately climbed up the short, inactive stem to either bounce or play sumo on its surface.

No one called the plants by the name "tree-poline" upon their first visit; the first usage of the term itself came from Aries Spring when the group began searching for Quitterie Raffaelli after her argument with Kanata Hoshijima and Zack Walker. Funicia Raffaelli climbed on top of a tree-poline, intending to retrieve one of the star-shaped flowers on top, and was still atop the platform when the plant entered its photosynthesis phase, so the rising of its platform stranded her high in the air. She was rescued from an ensuing tur-gon attack by Kanata Hoshijima, and the two escaped the platform long before the plant could enter its inactive phase.