Nukuwre Flower by @fragmented_imagination (B Sanders)

A flower from Ostrya coniflos, commonly known as the "nukuwre (tree)" (local name) or the "Ekimian coneflower tree". Rather than the pistil/stamen arrangement of Earth plants (and most other flowering plants of Jarvanh), the coneflower tree secretes an oil containing the reproducive cells of the tree. The flowers never get anymore open that the way they are pictured here, and female flowers close up almost immediately upon having an insect leave. The oil contains compounds which preserve male reproductive cells while traveling on the insects. It is these same compounds that make the tree susceptible to fire, as these chemicals are very volatile when exposed to a source of ignition.

The shape didn't come out as I had initially wanted it to look, but I think this looks much better as something meant to look like a real-world plant. I'm a little out of practice with coloring using pencils, and I've never drawn a flower with this detail before. I originally scanned this, but the scanner bleaced out the flowers' colors, so I took a picture with my phone and fiddled with the color settings until I had something I could show.

©  2024 B Sanders