Heliplort
Live in Zone 19 they exist in swampy areas with a lot of rocks and soil, but are able to expand into new zones easily because of their effective reproduction.
They are autotrophs feeding off of the sunlight to create energy, but now they always produce leaves in pairs. This contrasts their ancestors and other similar species which might grow one leaf at first followed by another and another. This plays a role in ensuring that they are able to be caught by the wind appropriately and grant them their scientific name (helicopterus).
It grows up to 3-4 feet tall depending on the depth of the water in the area. It’s leaves are smaller only a few inches in length making them less likely for predation and less of an energy investment for the plant.
These look very similar to their ancestors with one key difference, they have twin leaves. The leaves produce seeds both inside of the leaves and outside of the leaf stem. When the leaves reach their maximum size they dry out and disconnected from the plant so when the wind blows the leaves get caught up in the wind and carried far off to start a new plant. They grow several levels of these leaves and will put more energy into growing more pairs rather than increasing the sizes of the leaves themselves. They produce less seeds on their root-like vines but they do still produce them to be carried throughout the water.
