Air Cockrass
Derived from a variant of Cockrass (Phallucaulis flacoherbas) that happened to splooge their seeds onto the stems of larger cocktrees (Microcaulifolium distatptera and Microcaulifolium gracilistemus) in crowded settings, Air Cockrass (Phallucaulis caeliherbas) are more adapted for growing on those cocktrees and splooging their seeds onto other cocktrees to spread around. The Air Cockrass has a slower metabolism than its ground-dwelling cousin, however, as its growth is hindered on cocktrees; without a direct source of soil, it takes much longer to collect and absorb nutrients such as water and nitrogen to gain sufficient energy from photosynthesis. Instead, it will use its stem to slowly absorb nutrients from the air and its roots to absorb nutrients that leak through the stems of the cocktrees it grows on through tiny pores on the skin. Water is occasionally trapped on the bumpy scales of the polyph after it rains and is absorbed from the stem.
Air Cockrass is the same size of its ancestor, at thirty centimeters (30 cm) in length, but each polyph takes six months (6 mos) to grow instead of six weeks (6 wks). They curve upwards as a natural response to reach sunlight, and so that they can shoot out seeds to the stem of a cocktree to easily reproduce without them falling out. Air Cockrass can stay attached to their host cocktree polyph thanks to their roots curving around its stem, and they do not directly parasitise off of it as their root enzymes are not strong enough to effectively drain the cocktree's stem of nutrients.
Although they may attempt to grow on smaller-sized cockti (Phallucaceae) if their seeds happen to land on them, the growth of Air Cockrass usually ends up toppling the other polyph over and neither have good reproductive success.
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Air Cockrass grow a hole that is eight centimeters (8 cm) in diameter once they mature in size and their roots, which grow alongside the cocktree's stem, can extend out to fifteen centimeters (15 cm) away from the main body. Air Cockrass take about a month (1 mo) to produce the seeds and seed juices necessary for ejaculation, and turgor pressure will propel the seeds up to forty centimeters (40 cm) in height from the parent polyph's stem and up to thirty centimeters (30 cm) forwards, which is typically enough distance to land the majority of seeds on a cocktree within an established area with at least forty centimeters (± 40 cm) in variation depending on its height and the size of the cocktree. The seeds of Air Cockrass are identical in size to those of Cockrass, at half a millimeter (0.5 mm) in diameter each. They are expendable and are released in the thousands in hopes that at least some will grow into new polyphs. Air Cockrass in the southernmost portions of Zone L may only get to release their seeds once or twice (1-2) before dying off to the cold because of how long they take to grow, but those farther north may just survive winter temperatures and keep on reproducing thanks to the lower latitude and being closer to the equator. Seeds are dormant in winter and begin growth in early spring when climates are milder.
