Ellie Omera
Character
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create a tree for Arsenae to add more depth to the planet's lore.
- Image Credit: (X)(X)(X)(X)
[*]Canon: N/A
[*]Permissions: : N/A
[*]Links: Arsenae
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Name: Melia tree
- Origins: Arsenae
- Other Locations: Found only on Arsenae.
- Classification: Tree
- Average Growth Cycle: Melia trees drop seeds at the end of the dry season, early fall, and sprout in early winter, which is the start of the rainy season on Arsenae. These seedlings will rapidly grow during these wet months and will reach a height of half a meter by the time the dry season arrives. Most of the saplings early growth goes into its taproot, which needs to reach almost a meter into the ground in order to find enough water to last the dry season. Melia trees star baring fruit at around seven or eight years old, but only in small amounts. A Melia tree will reach its full 3.6 meter height when it is approximately seventy years old and live for almost seven hundred years. When a Melia tree dies, the softer wood on the inside rots first, leaving behind cavities for animals to live in.
- Viability: Melia trees thrive in semi-arid terrains with lots of sun. Where the summers are warm and dry and winters are cool and wet. During the dry season an adult tree can consume as little as a few gallons of water a day, during the wet season they will consume large amounts since it is the time that they bare fruit. These trees prefer well drained soil, as remaining in standing water can cause root rot. When properly tended to, a Melia tree can live between seven hundred to seven hundred and fifty years. Fruit harvested from the tree can last upwards of three weeks.
- Description: The Melia tree is a hardy Semi-arid tree reaching 3.6 meters in height, with dark brown bark, light green leaves, small white flowers and red fruit with a thick outer skin, soft inside with a hard seed in the center.
The tree itself has many uses. Fruit from the trees is harvested and eaten or crushed for the juice which is then fermented into wine. The leaves have a waxy outer coat to keep in moisture, when crushed, they release a thick oil. This oil can be processed many different ways to create a variety of things. From oil used in medical or ritual practices, all the way to being used as fuel for lamps. Even wax from the leaves can be used as a sealant. The wood from the tree is light weight and good for building small fishing boats and used in the construction of several types of buildings or religious altars.
- Average Height: 3.6 meters
- Average Length: N/A
- Color: Flowers on the Melia tree are small and white. The leaves are light green on top and almost silvery on bottom. The fruit is pale green when growing and vibrant red when ripe.
- Nutritional Value: Fruit provides high amounts of vitamin-C and low amounts of vitamin-B along with small amounts of several other types of vitamins.
- Toxicity: Leaves can cause stomach pains if eaten in large quantities.
- Other Effects: When heated, the oil from the leaves can be used to loosen sore muscles. Wax from the leaves can be used to seal minor cuts.
- Distinctions: The Melia tree is unique amongst others because of its many uses. From fruit that not only provides food but can be processed into wine. Leaves that contain an oil that has a multitude of uses, from medicinal to religious and even as fuel to light homes. Lumber from the tree is used in boat and house building. Being able to survive in dry semi-arid environments and yet still produce a large quantity of food and other uses has made it the most useful tree on Arsenae.
- Hardy: The Melia tree is a hardy warm weather tree. Capable of surviving for long periods on little water and still produce large crop yields.
- Versatile: No other plant on Arsenae has as many uses as the Melia tree. Providing not only food from fruits, but wine, oils for a variety of uses, lumber and wax.
- Fire: The Melia tree is still a tree and like many it's weak to fire. Being in a dry climate means it's more susceptible to fire due to the lack of water.
- To much water: Melia trees don't do well in standing water or very wet climates. Exposure to to much ground water can cause root rot or cracking of the roots, exposing them to fungal growth.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
According to Arsenian beliefs, the Melia tree was given to them by Ikona, the Goddess of agriculture around twenty thousand BBY. Small groves of the trees were planted at the edge of villages for good luck and a steady supply of food. The people of Arsenae can't remember the exact date they starter making wine from the Melia tree, but some suggest it was sometime between seventeen to eighteen thousand BBY, while the processing of oils from leaves took place sometime around fifteen thousand BBY. The Melia tree is important not only as food, but in worship to the Goddesses, especially Ikona. When the city of Lesea was founded in five thousand BBY, large groves of Melia trees were planted not only as food but for good fortune, groves that have been tended to for thousands of years.
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