Feeder plant

The feeder plant was native to the planet of Binaros in the Kathol Outback. The plant consisted of two distinct entities - the mother plant, and its feeders.

In 8 ABY, a feeder plant was inadvertently taken aboard the New Republic corvette FarStar after the Defel Kl'aal got some of the spores caught in his fur. The plant began growing in one of the lower holds, and began a threat to crew when its feeders started to cause shipwide malfunctions and attacking the crew. The FarStar's xenobiologist, Varel DeVay, managed to create a gaseous poison to kill the plant.

Mother plant
The mother plant was a huge, non-sentient plant that was round in shape. The mother plant was dormant during the day, folding in on itself and only unfurling and becoming active at night. The majority of the plant was colored in different shades of green, and the plant gave off a mild odor of sweet honey mixed with an earthy scent.

The body of the mother plant was dominated by a huge, thorn-lined maw that was used to tear into prey. The maw was usually obscured from view by a large amount of leafy stalks. The mother plant sported six short, brown, tap roots, along with a dense mass of secondary roots.

Feeders
Feeders were half a meter tall mobile vegetables spawned from the mother plant. Each feeder had four vine-like legs that attached to a soft underbelly that was covered in lichen. The carapace of the feeder consisted of tough layered shells to protect the upper body from attack, and spiny thorns sprouted from the joints between the shells. At the front of the feeder was a thin, needle-like proboscis that was used to feed on water and nutrients. The proboscis could also be used to attack larger mammals to draw out blood and nutrients. The resources that the feeder collected were stored in sacs in the underbelly for transport back to the mother plant.

Feeders were unintelligent hunters that responded to a series of environmental stimuli that triggered certain behaviour in the plant, such as feeding, fleeing, or fighting. Feeders tended to attack in larger numbers.

Life-cycle
From a spore, the mother plant began to grow. As it grew, it produced feeders to gather water, nutrients, minerals and metals for itself. Due to its physiology, the plant typically reached adulthood in a week or two, since the plant had adapted to have a quick growth cycle due to the frequent flooding during the Binaros wet season.

As it grew, the mother plant began to need to produce spores to procreate the species. For this, it required nitrogen. The feeders were then tasked to retrieve nitrogen, which they did by attacking living creatures, or draining it from the corpses of recently deceased animals. With optimum conditions, the plant's life cycle can be completed in two weeks.

Appearances

 * Plant Food