The infamous Blood-Lily, a water lily native to F’chmelch, is known throughout the skies for both its beauty and its terrible nature. The flower did not acquire its ominous name for its gorgeous crimson blossom. Fish and other animals which pass too close to the bottom risk brushing the many trigger hair that cover the lily's roots. If a hair senses movement, the root shoots out a harpoon-like barb which sedates the prey with an extraordinarily powerful neurotoxin. The barb is retracted, reeling in the paralyzed prey so that the roots can envelop it and begin to slowly feed on its flesh.
For reasons which should be obvious, the Blood-Lily is quite popular on Barathi for both ornate and "practical" applications (that neurotoxin is very potent stuff). While they are expensive to import and very difficult to grow in the Barathian climate, many of the wealthier houses keep at least one of these exotic flowers in their gardens. The Empress herself has nearly two dozen in the extensive gardens on the palace grounds.
Travelers' Comments on Blood-Lily
I am well acquainted with the Blood-Lily, perhaps more intimately than I would prefer. I was so enamored when I first laid eyes on one that I leaped from my canoe to take a cutting and stepped right onto a root as soon as my feet touched the bottom. If my guide hadn't pulled my foolhardy young arse out of the river I would most certainly have drowned!
—Professor Edmund Redfern
