Questions tagged [flora]
For questions related to plants and vegetation in general.
9
votes
2answers
167 views
Plants That Use Chitin in Place of Lignin
What would the appearance and structure of trees be like if they used chitin, instead of lignin, for cell walls? This is assuming that all other properties are basically unchanged.
These trees would ...
4
votes
3answers
118 views
Modern Landscape Lacking Wood Decomposers
What would a modern landscape look like with the absence of lignin decomposing fungi, bacteria, and etc.
What I mean is...would a forested area just become filled with fallen trees instead of a more ...
5
votes
2answers
62 views
light spectrum from a red dwarf star on a planet with an ozone and cloudy atmosphere
What light spectrum would hit the surface of a planet orbiting a red dwarf star?
the planet has a humid, greenhouse & cloudy atmosphere, and a strong ozone, 80%+ surface water.
Planet is tidally ...
26
votes
5answers
4k views
Plausibility of Mushroom Buildings
How plausible would buildings made inside of, or made using, giant mushrooms be?
Copyright Raphael Lacoste 2018
A staple of the fantasy genre, mushrooms have commonly been seen as magical and ...
9
votes
4answers
465 views
What Would the Third Kind of Angiosperm Look Like?
To put this title into context, there are actually two basic kinds of angiosperms on Earth, showing here:
These differences in characteristics serve their own adaptations to survive and thrive.
Now ...
5
votes
3answers
594 views
Would plants on a planet orbiting a star like ours, have any different color?
So I'm currently designing an alien habitable planet that orbits a star similar to our Sun. Assuming that the composition of the planet's atmosphere, as well as its pressure, are similar to the ones ...
0
votes
0answers
57 views
How long would it take a town to become overgrown? [duplicate]
So in my imaginary world, in the mid-to-late 2000s a lot of people die off. The reasons for this are unimportant, so I won't include them, but it has no impact on plant and animal life. So, ...
6
votes
1answer
131 views
What tree type grows into the most dense forests?
"Tree" is (apparently) not a very well defined term as far as scientific classifications are concerned, so I'll put my own restrictions on it for this question:
Typical healthy adult specimens must ...
8
votes
2answers
695 views
Could Gymnosperms Develop Fruits and Flowers Like Angiosperms?
Here is the scenario: A Paleo/Mesozoic mass extinction wiped out 96% of all terrestrial species, and the only plants that survived were as follows:
One genus of conifer
One genus of cycad
One genus ...
4
votes
2answers
143 views
Could fruit (specifically oranges) evolve into intelligent life? [closed]
Is it possible for oranges to become intelligent life while still retaining some of their essential qualities such as skin that can neatly be peeled off and reproduction through seeds and growth off ...
12
votes
3answers
301 views
Symbiotic Assassin Vines
I have an idea for an encounter in my world that goes like this...
A weary group of adventurers are trekking through a great ancient forest. This forest is avoided by most due to strange tales of ...
6
votes
6answers
2k views
What could cause trees to grow large, hollow bulges about halfway up their trunks?
I'd like to have a forest with trees that are "normal" except that as they grow a big, hollow bulge forms in their trunks about halfway up, giving them a shape something like this, with a relatively ...
6
votes
3answers
175 views
How would a world evolve with regular blizzards? [closed]
Imagine there are severe magical blizzards coming from the south pole at regular intervals.
Since they're magical, let's assume they can cross the equator and don't lose strength over time.
They are ...
1
vote
0answers
49 views
What would plant life on 55 Cancri e be like? [closed]
55 Cancri e is an actual exoplanet which should be around twice the size of Earth so it would be high gravity. It also is thought to be a carbon planet, meaning the role silicate takes on our world ...
7
votes
3answers
193 views
Can black algae promote a global warming on a cold planet?
My world is at the outer edge of the habitable zone. There is enough heat and geological activity to start life, but a snowball earth is looming and threatens to freeze it all. There is some spring ...
5
votes
4answers
215 views
How can Mars have life but still be “The Red Planet”
Building on this question "Discovery of life on Mars"
Mars is habitable (40% the mass of Earth, 6.06 m/s² gravity, escape velocity of 7.88 km/s, a satellite big enough to stabilize its axis and has ...
6
votes
4answers
659 views
Why should astronauts grow and eat Caulerpa taxifolia, the world's biggest single-celled organism?
Caulerpa taxifolia, an algae species popular with aquarium owners, is the largest single-celled organism known to us as of today. It is notable for being able to regenerate from any part of the body ...
4
votes
3answers
246 views
Could a Tree grow around a humanoid being?
So, let’s say a group of survivors tie an immortal being to a young tree sapling. The immortal does not need food, nor water, so can survive indefinitely.
After about 100 years, could that young ...
10
votes
3answers
2k views
Can a gorse plant be used as a source of food?
I have a fantasy kingdom set up where the landscape is mostly mountainous with rock and pine forests, like the picture below. As such, it is quite difficult to have agriculture. One plant which can ...
4
votes
3answers
186 views
Building a Realistic Food Web
So far, I've begun developing a food web for a swampy biome. Currently, the result of this free building is shown in the mess below (built = orange, aquatic = blue, producer = green, not built yet = ...
7
votes
2answers
114 views
Maximum realistic salinity level with thriving aquatic environment?
I'm trying to create a planet which environment is not immediately lethal to humans, (reasonable oxygen level) however after closer inspection turns out not to be specially Earth-like.
One issues is ...
4
votes
2answers
150 views
How would plants evolve with longer days?
(First post on StackExchange, hello world!)
The project that I'm currently working on involves a Binary Planet system, both with life, although I'm only focusing on one. This planet has a climate ...
29
votes
8answers
5k views
How would trees communicate?
An alternate world is populated by mainly intelligent trees and other plants. These plants are almost exactly the same, biologically, as Earth's plants. The world's climate and geology are very ...
4
votes
3answers
151 views
A Planet with No Animals
Assuming that an Earth analog was inhabited by both plants and animals like our Earth. Could the non-animal life on the planet survive the absence of animals (excluding sponges and corals) on the ...
-2
votes
3answers
101 views
The Stone-age Limbo People - How do they hunt wild boar?
The Limbo People (who are hominids with intelligence somewhere between chimpanzees and humans) have long survived by hunting wild boar. They use spears with wooden hafts and flint tips. They are a ...
0
votes
1answer
72 views
Floating Ocean Vegetation
I have several types of free-floating vegetation to pick from:
Trees
Reeds/grasses
Lily Pad like-plants
Which type would best survive in the open ocean supporting small pockets of creatures, since ...
1
vote
5answers
119 views
What Plants To Grow In Space? [duplicate]
Plants are quite useful to the intrepid space colonist, in addition to providing food, plants also help reduce life support burden and psychological stress by adding a splash of green to all those ...
6
votes
4answers
323 views
Cave/Subterranean Lighting
I have a cave that is ravine like and stretches approximately one kilometer down into the Earth. Let's assume that the cave has a clear, crystalline roof allowing some light in.
Is there any sort of ...
6
votes
3answers
105 views
Botanical Barricades
I have a clonal colony of trees that are around 150 meters in height and live in a wetland habitat. These trees cover the majority of the wetland area, covering thousands of square miles.
What ...
0
votes
1answer
108 views
What poisons could have been hidden in food or drink used in the early 1700's? [closed]
I'm writing a character who has to kill her children by poisoning. I just need something they wouldn't have tasted. It doesn't matter if it kills them fast or slow (either will work). Back then ...
5
votes
2answers
142 views
Do these plants make sense in the way I want them to establish in my world?
(Beforehand I'll excuse myself for my english. If you didn't need to know that you can just ignore it)
There's a network of root-like life forms in the top layers of my planet. They use some kind of ...
13
votes
2answers
653 views
Anatomically Correct: Space Plankton
This creature was void-born in the farthest depths of time in this Universe. Drawing its energy from electromagnetic radiation, and sealed against the vacuum of space, this drifting creature ...
4
votes
4answers
247 views
Purple plants on a planet orbiting a green star?
Before I continue, yes, green stars don't really exist visually. Although stars like the Sun are green stars, they appear white (and are known as yellow dwarfs) because it doesn't only emit green ...
7
votes
1answer
312 views
Can fiber optic cables be used to pipe sunlight into an underground bunker for growing plants?
One major problem with living underground is you lose all of that wonderful energy provided by the sun. This energy is useful for many things including growing plants for food. A window is effectively ...
4
votes
2answers
146 views
Compass on a Ringed, Earth-like Planet
Is it necessarily a given that a compass (as they magnetically function on Earth) could be made to function similarly on an alternate, Earth-like, ringed planet?
Another way of asking: is it feasible ...
2
votes
1answer
70 views
Anaerobic Fungal or Plant life
The Dark Warlock Susie has heard of a cave system with a lethal density of argon that is protecting a burgeoning monster population. In the interest of beefing up her security, Susie wants to recreate ...
3
votes
4answers
595 views
Could a new species wipe out the rest of an established ecosystem?
I'm not asking about an exotic species in the modern world we know all too well the havoc that can be caused by the introduction of an alien species into an existing ecosystem. I want to know if a ...
1
vote
1answer
61 views
Food crops for a planet with short year
Kjør bestillingen 92 umiddelbart. Frøhvelvet skal åpnes, skyttelbussen skal tilberedes.
(Execute Order 92 immediately; the seed vault is to be opened, the shuttle prepared)
&...
4
votes
1answer
201 views
Mega-Dandelion Seed Size
How large, referring to weight, could a Dandelion seed become before the wind was no longer able to carry them away? Assume the physiology of both the seed and plant remain the same besides being ...
6
votes
6answers
483 views
Producing oxygen without plants
Obviously, current oxygen levels should last us years, so we are talking about a long-term solution.
Also, in this hypothetical scenario, plants have stopped releasing oxygen but haven't stop ...
9
votes
5answers
2k views
Exploding fruit mechanism
I'm designing an alien tree species that produces small purple fruits at the edge of its braches. Now a few seconds after one of these fruits falls from the tree it makes a small explosion so that its ...
0
votes
3answers
105 views
Human Survival on Alien Flora/Fauna [duplicate]
Allow me to pose yet another hypothetical.
Your spaceship has crash-landed on an earth-like planet. The air is breathable. The gravity is a bearable 1.2 g. The planet is teeming with fauna and ...
11
votes
6answers
2k views
Materials in a tidal water world
I'm trying to create a people that live on this rolling tide (see previous question or on 'millers planet') but I haven't figured out where they would get wood to build their boats/homes. If the tide ...
5
votes
1answer
346 views
What if animals evolved from fungi?
So in my book series, there is this planet called Axaca. However, it is very different from most of the galaxy in that its flora is almost completely fungal. Here are some things to know:
Trees are ...
7
votes
1answer
132 views
Anatomically Correct Tiberium - Part 1 (Mineral Leaching)
In the Command & Conquer series of games, there is a mythical 'plant' life called Tiberium. It ends up being of alien origin through the course of the games, but its role in the game is as a ...
4
votes
1answer
133 views
How tall could bamboo grow
How tall could a bamboo-like (i.e hollow with nodes) tree be ? It should be at very least 1.5m of diameter and walls no more than 20cm thick. The internodes should be 2 to 5 meter long. I think it ...
8
votes
4answers
374 views
How would flora be affected by longer night than day cycle?
Night/Day Cycle
I'm trying to make a fantasy world with a longer night cycle than day.
With the advice of Renan, 12 hours of proper night, 4 hours of near/partial dark and 8 hours of good light. ...
6
votes
3answers
238 views
What would it take for a plant to produce electric shocks?
I'm designing an alien plant soecies that has evolved to produce electric shocks, as a way to keep insects away from it. My question is, how would it produce electricity in the first place? Also, ...
2
votes
1answer
113 views
What would happen if all (higher) life magically became sentient and reached human-level intelligence? [closed]
Overnight, all higher life, multicellular life forms from trees and grass to dogs and elephants reached a level of intelligence similar to that of humans. For example, they can communicate effectively,...
7
votes
6answers
252 views
Plausibility Check: Kite Trees?
Disclaimer: This question, unlike my other tree related question, was brought about by pure whimsical daydreaming. I also threw the term "evolve" around a lot, I should clarify that what I asking is ...
