Pollen Season

Withania was sitting in front of an enormous plant situated in the corner of her vegetable garden, biting her lower lip slightly in anticipation. The plant was the size of an upturned cart, a stem the size of a small tree trunk flanked by broad leaves that were two or three feet wide and nearly twice as long, all overshadowed by a single flower the size of an armchair at the top with golden yellow petals that overlapped like petticoats of a ballgown, showing slivers of their pure white underside.

It was morning, and the sun was bright, but not yet hot, creating Withania’s favourite time of the day. Later on this spot of her garden would fall into the shadow of one of the large green houses that occupied the majority of her yard, but for now her beautiful creation stood proudly drinking in the solar rays.

This amazonian sized sample was the product of several seasons of work that had commenced after a lucky discovery in the Everfree forest, all of which were documented in a diary left on her workbench titled; “Tegmen flower, Magnus”

Entry 1 – On my way home from a herb delivery in the Everfree forest I had a chance encounter with the most unusual plant I’ve ever seen. It is a simple, single-headed flower with a large stem and broad, linear leaves that peel back from the stem. What initially caught my eye was its strikingly warm honey coloured petals, but on closer inspection I noticed that it had a surprisingly small stigma at its centre and curly, tendril-like stamen that seem much too small for the overall size of the flower. A sweet aroma floats around the flower, and I found that the upward facing side of the petals are steeped in a rich honey-like nectar, giving the flower its colour.

As I observed the plant, a humble bee graced us with its presence by landing on the flower. This demonstrated the remarkable strength of the stem, which barely moved under the weight of the insect crashing into it. With the stigma being so small, I wondered what the bee would hang on to, and I saw that it was sitting on the petals getting positively covered in nectar like an indulgent mud bath on a spa day.

To my astonishment, the flower began to close upon the hapless bee! It was not the quick, decisive motion of a flytrap, but a slow and almost lazy contraction back into a bud, trapping the bee inside. Either the bee was not aware of what was happening, or it was too distracted by the abundant supply nectar it had discovered – and there must have been a significant amount of nectar, as it was visibly seeping from between the petals as the flower bud tightened shut.

Curious as to the bee’s fate – as I must confess I have a morbid fascination with carnivorous plants – I waited for about twenty minutes to see if anything else would happen, but there was no visible change from the outside. Careful not to disturb the flower or its occupant I dug the entire plant up and placed it in a sapling bag for transport home, whereupon I repotted it and observed it for a further six hours.

After this wait the flower began to bloom once again – opening up as if the sun had just risen. I fully expected the bee to be no more, and was astonished to see that it was very much alive and well. It moved about as if stunned, and after a short while spread its wings and buzzed away, presumably to seek its home. It seemed none the worse for wear, begging the question; If the plant was not intending to consume the insect, why attract and trap it?

The vacant flower is now pure white, with beautiful stripes highlighting the sturdier veins of the petals, the stamen are either gone or seem to have receded into the stem, and the nectar is also gone, leaving the flower smooth and dry. It is quite beautiful, seeming to have undergone its own transformation like a caterpillar in a cocoon. I am alight with curiosity to better understand this amazing specimen.

Entry 2 – A plant that behaves as if it were carnivorous but without the awkward side-effect of death ignites a great desire of mine. The problem is that even among the carnivorous species there is nothing large enough to indulge a pony. And so I have myself a challenge. Many of the plants and specimens in my greenhouses are larger than their native species due to my daily work with them – bigger plants bring bigger yields. But I have never deliberately attempted to grow anything up to an enormous size.

I can use a growing potion to immediately increase the size of the Tegmen flower (as this is what I have named the plant) but giant plants are not that simple. As mass increases, so does weight, and the corresponding structural strength of the plant will fall out of balance, causing potentially catastrophic problems. But if I were to combine a growing potion with my natural earth pony magic, theoretically the sky would be the limit.

With Earth Pony magic, plants grow naturally stronger and fuller. They also grow faster, but without the instantaneous results a growing potion would yield. Earth pony magic is a strange entity, being passive in nature. I cannot speak an incantation or wave my hooves around, but through my loving attention my plants display remarkable health and potency compared to any control specimens left to their own devices.

I believe that a drip-fed potion combined with my own brand of TLC could, in time, grow a monstrously large specimen of the Tegmen. Big enough to hold a pony perhaps…

Entry 3 – Checkpoint update. I have, through accelerated growth and twice daily attention, cultivated two further generations of the Tegmen. The second generation (with the original being the first) was noticeably larger than its parent. Nothing that could be experimented with, but evidence that my growing method is not damaging to the plant. The flower shows no signs of extraneous growth on other plants that I have in the past attempted to grow at two or three times the natural speed. This means that I can easily increase the dosage of growing potion and also my own care. I have now cultivated several specimens, which I can crossbreed to further increase the size of the next generations – although this level of growth that I am attempting is getting increasingly ambitious, and I may need to reduce the number of plants as I go to ensure I can maintain full attention.

The third generation of the plant is where things are getting interesting. It is large enough, and strong enough, to hold a small rodent. I have ‘procured’ a field mouse I discovered merrily chewing through my supply shed and I will ‘feed’ it to the plant.

It pains me to perform animal testing of this ilk, but all of my observations and knowledge of the plant to date lead me to believe that Mr Whiskers will come to no harm during his stay. If anything I am rather jealous, and would gladly take his place. But the Tegmen is not ready for me. The best I can do is verify that its remarkable behaviour is not being diluted by my meddling.

Entry 4 – Mr Whiskers has survived his stay inside the flower. Interestingly it lasted longer longer (approximately 10 hours) than the insect-class flower, so it would seem that some of the plant’s aspects are being scaled up.

My test subject seems to be in a perfect state of health, exiting the flower in a daze, but with a furry coat looking like the finest veterinarians in the land had lavished their attention upon him. He was not even keen to escape, despite me making no effort to contain him.

Additionally, the Tegmen flower post-bloom is now the most beautiful specimen I have yet seen, noticeably more vibrant (if one could refer to a white flower as vibrant) than its siblings in the control group that were hand pollinated, rather than fed. This confirms my suspicion that the plant does gain some kind of boost or sustenance from its guests, although since I am not a biologist I cannot examine my test subject to determine exactly what happened. Nor am I brave enough to ask a scientist for laboratory equipment that would allow me to see what is happening inside the bud during pollination. I can’t believe that an animal squirming around inside the bud is a more effective pollinator than my pollon probe carefully transporting pollen from the stamen to the stigma in the most thorough way I can, so something more must be occurring.

Entry 5 – The size of the Tegmen specimens is now as such that I have narrowed the next generations down to pairs, with all spare examples now in the control group, which is not being fed the growing potion to slow them down to the point where they do not require daily care. If something happens to my experimental specimens, I will only lose one generation at worst, as I can simply begin feeding one of the control plants.

As the plant gets bigger, so do the effects of my accelerated growth plan. The first few generations were increasing in size by inches, but I am now working on a scale of feet. I think the fifth generation is going to big enough, and I will most likely grow just one of them for now. I’ll have to dedicate an entire plot of the garden for it as it is.

It’s hard to believe that it’s gone this far. I’m not sure if I really thought this was going to happen at the start of the project, but seeing the fourth generation being large enough to hold a cat or even a dog I can no longer avoid the truth. I am growing a gigantic plant big enough to envelop a pony and I’m going to feed myself to it.