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Inktober 2019 #1 - Spotil

A bit of a throwback to my Inktober 2014 adventures. 

The month of October is called Spotilan on the JI Planet, named for the staple fruit of the Amicans. The Spotil has a consistency, texture and flavor somewhere in the range between an apple and a potato. Perhaps that sounds gross, but the Amicans never tire of it.

Inktober 2019 #6: Rinrin Boubou Flower I really struggled a lot coming up with the color scheme for this flower. Apparently I never made notes for what colors it was supposed to be in the original drawings! I have a feeling the main flower was supposed to be yellow, but it looked too bland with all three flowers the same color. That and I couldn’t seem to get it to look right :/ It was too overblown. I managed to tamp it down a little for this, but yeah. Maybe I should have tried yellow with white mini blossoms? Anyways...

The Rinrin Boubou is considered a rather clumsy flower. it oozes honey from the centers of its dangling flowers during its fruiting season, leading some to believe that this substance is somehow the materials for fruits that didn't quite form. There may be some truth to this theory, as the substance, when cooked, forms a substance like sweet scrambled eggs. Uncooked however, the substance is beloved as a sweetener for tea, and during fruiting season, cups of tea can often be seen placed below the oozing flowers to capture the honey for sweetening.

Inktober 2019 #8: Usu Honeyblossoms The nectar of these flowers are sweet but watery. It can be boiled down however to create a fragrant, very sweet honey to use for sweetening tea, cooking pastries, or as a drizzle in certain dishes.

Inktober 2019 #10:  Windia Flowana This flower feeds on the power of the wind. It seems most comfortable in areas where it can get a lot of wind, but can be coaxed to grow in other areas as well. However, not enough wind will cause the flower to close and the leaves to curl up against the stem. An especially windless Windia flower will droop, and may even disappear into the ground.

Inktober 2019 #11: Skaepara Plant

The fruit of the Skaepara Plant is well-known for the map-like patterns on its surface. It is favored for decorative purposes and dyeing for its magnificent blue color. It is edible, but not particularly favored by Amicans. The leaves also may only be good for filler in tea, and are instead preferred for decorative and fashion purposes.

Inktober 2019 #13: Featherfruit Flower

A rare, slow-growing flower that grows fruit where the leaves should be. Featherfruits are famously beloved by Buddys, though not everyone cares for them. They make great fruit leather, or can be cooked to use in dishes whole. They are juicy when big, though younger fruits are a little hard. It’s best to leave the small fruits on until they ripen, long though their growing season may be.

Inktober 2019 #15: Balkavine

A plant renowned and admired for its toughness. Despite its tough exterior, the fruit is quite juicy and flavorful, even sweet. However, plants that fruit during a prolonged rain will have a mealier taste, a bit like a large blueberry. The sweeter ones especially are often enjoyed in cooking.

Inktober 2019 #17: Flarowan Pikana A blossom that prefers warm summer nights. It stores up energy in the day and releases it at night in a brilliant display. They are beloved sights during the Tea Festival, particularly on drier nights. On days when it rains it will not open much at night, and give off little energy. The petals are actually sweeter when giving off energy, so they are preferred prepared and served quickly. The petals will continue to glow after they are plucked, but only for three hours. That is why a quick preparation and serving are optimal for sweeter teas.

Inktober 2019 #20: Sappora Flower An unusual flower with few known uses. Its appeal is mostly in its aesthetics, and it is surprisingly easy to care for. The flower can grow indoors or outdoors, but is much more vigorous outdoors, or if put out to sun at least during the day. In spite of its bright pink petals, it is not very sweet. The leaves, too, are bland. It is best appreciated visually than gastronomically.

Inktober 2019 #24: Veriana Flowers Veriana flowers tend to be rare. Each flower it grows has different needs for its environment, and it can be rare for those conditions to all come together in the same area. However, each flower has its own unique root system. As such, these roots can search out soil and nutrient conditions and gravitate towards areas that meet those conditions. All the same, the seeds of Verianas rarely take root unless they can sense ideal conditions somewhere nearby. As a result of their diverse needs, the flowers that Verianas grow also tend to be seasonal, some springing up and flourishing when weather is ideal, and others closing up and receding back into the soil.

Spotil Giving

Spotils are the staple food of Wing Alayna. They have a taste a bit like a mix between a potato and an apple. These versatile fruits make excellent gifts during the month of Spotilan especially, when they tend to be in full fruit.

Hinamün Malia

A small flower found to be growing here and there in Wing Alayna. Its center mimics the phases of the moon, growing darker as the moon wanes and brighter as the moon waxes. Its flower is very sensitive to rain, closing up at the slightest hint of it. Part of this has to do with the fruit it grows in its center. Though it starts out soft, it becomes harder and drier as the moon wanes, so it is thought the flower closes up to protect its fruit from unexpected changes in humidity. In sunny weather, the flower takes in heat from the sun and 'cooks' the fruit in its center to a cookie-like consistency. For this reason, Hinamün disks are a beloved treat, especially during the Tea Festival if they can be saved until then, as the Tea Festival begins while the rainy season is in full swing, and Hinamüns are seldom seen that deep into the rainy season.

Ranrinia Duplana

Relative of the Ranrinia Triplana, the Duplana species usually comes into bloom around Cloudalon, the third month, as the rainy season is starting to break up. It was thought for a long time that Duplanas were Triplanas in a different phase of life, but it is now understood that they are different species.

It prefers intermittent rain, so it is sometimes also seen at the start of the rainy season in late Zephyrlan, the ninth month, before things get too intense for it.

Like the Triplana, the Duplana can also grow flowers in its center. Though it can't hold as much water, it does gather a little, especially during the rainy season, and the various debris that finds itself in its blossom also helps to support the small flowers that get their start within its petals.

Fuzu Blosoma

A rare flower with a fuzzy stalk and petals. It can be found in the Great Buddy Highlands and in the north Wing Alaynan plains. These flowers rarely fruit and go to seed, as most known specimens are male.

Curloa Pinwheria

Thought to be related to the Windia Flowana, but more closely associated with the Pinwheria Magnificentia. Like the Windia Flowana, the Curloa Pinwheria derives much of its energy from the wind. It likes growing in windy places such as the windward side of the Great Buddy Mountains and Highlands, but can be found wherever it can get a decent wind. If it finds its way to a place without much wind, it tends to droop, and may even recede back into the soil.

Heleh Lifurloa

If the Clera Fula signifies the start of the rainy season, the Heleh Lifurloa signifies the end. Its root system works tirelessly to help drain the land and stabilize the ground in the wake of the rainy season. In the dry months, however, it's nowhere to be seen. By what process it disappears has yet to be directly observed, but in particularly wet years when the Heleh Lifurloas are far and few in between, they are sometimes seen all year round, vanishing only when the ground around it is sufficiently drained.

It has long, string-like sticky pistils with which to collect wind-blown pollen as Heleh Lifurloas tend not to grow close together. It stores water in its stem, leaves, petals and tubers, which, aside from the petals, all share a glassy appearance. The leaves and tubers swell the more water they collect and shrink as the plant uses it up. The tubers can be shaped to create beautiful, decorative pieces. The leaves and stems are not so easily manipulated, but nevertheless make elegant, decorative pieces if caught before their mysterious disappearance.

The corolla is sometimes plucked to be used as a decorative container, similar to a Jara Flora. The nectar is used to sweeten tea themed around the flower during the Tea Festival. The leaves, stem and tubers can be melted and boiled down to create a slightly sweet syrup as well, but as the initial melted plant is full of water, it usually takes quite a while to boil it down to a syrup, and few parts of the plant are edible without processing. The pistils are trimmed and used to add a sweet, herbal note to tea themed around the plant.