| Class: | Symbiont, microscopic |
| Hab: | Leaves |
| Fre: | Uncommon to Rare |
| Num: | Innumerable; fills copse or thicket |
| Lair: | 100% |
| Size: | Microscopic infestation |
| Move: | Nope; sessile |
| Def: | No vital organs; dispersed throughout host copse or thicket |
| Att: | Explosive flaming oil spray if injured, otherwise harmless |
| Int: | None |
| Spec: | Fire-starter |
| Posns: | May have value to an alchemist |
This fungus lives symbiotically in the leaves and sometimes bark of otherwise normal plants. It collects volatile oils at high pressure in tiny sacs within the leaf and sometimes under the bark. Certain other "ignition chemicals" are collected in-between the membranes comprising the sacs.
When the sacs are ruptured, as by being bitten by an herbivore or clawed by a territory-marking predator, broken by a nest-material gathering ape or cut by a woodsman, the sac explodes in a burst of flame. Naturally, this ignites the other sacs of the leaf, and they too explode. This fire, while intense, is short-lived.
Other parts of the plant will not be lit unless there is further disturbance; the fungus does impart at least some fire-resistance to its host.
This is enough to deter most would-be injurers of the plant, although some woodsmen have been known to specialize in gathering the bark and leaves for alchemists who distil potions impart fire-resistance, incendiary powders, and other exotic products from them.
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