A Treatise by Rosmund Oswell, Esq.
In my journeys about the world, I have come across many a bizarre specimen of flora and fauna. None are more curious than the panic vine, a species unique to a very few tropical isles south of our fine Kingdom. In this treatise I shall detail what knowledge I have gleaned on these strange plants.
Habitat:
The panic vine appears able to grow exclusively within the confined ecosystem of a range of tropical islands to the south of the kingdom. When specimens are extracted from these islands, they quickly die regardless of the quality of their care. This goes double for the compounds the plants secrete, which have a stable shelf life of a week at best, making it thoroughly impossible to bring a living specimen or its produce back to the Kingdoms for better taxonomic classification.
Propagation:
The vine appears to propagate through cloning, dropping offshoots of its vines when they grow too heavy, only for those offshoots to take root and begin the climb up nearby trees. A mature vine specimen may have hanging tendrils from many different trees, for as it drops offshoots it later reunites with them in the canopies of the trees it climbs upon.
"Panic Poison":
The most interesting feature of the panic vine is the thick compound produced along the length of each creeper. Contact of this compound with bare flesh has the effect of near-instantaneous descent into a profound delirium, wherein one loses their higher capacity for thought and becomes subsumed by a visceral panic. I have observed several members of my crew fall prey to this toxin, and have only half of the afflicted return safely. Further, this toxin promotes a distinct rash which spreads from the area of contact until the substance is removed, accompanied by a sensation as if burned by acid. The delirium can last anywhere from several minutes to many hours, depending upon the constitution and rationality of the man so foolish to grasp the vine.
The primary danger of this poison is the loss of rational behavior it promotes. Men burned by the poison may dash into the jungle in fear, coming into contact with more panic vines and yet worse things, leading to accidental injury or death.
In my journeys about the world, I have come across many a bizarre specimen of flora and fauna. None are more curious than the panic vine, a species unique to a very few tropical isles south of our fine Kingdom. In this treatise I shall detail what knowledge I have gleaned on these strange plants.
Habitat:
The panic vine appears able to grow exclusively within the confined ecosystem of a range of tropical islands to the south of the kingdom. When specimens are extracted from these islands, they quickly die regardless of the quality of their care. This goes double for the compounds the plants secrete, which have a stable shelf life of a week at best, making it thoroughly impossible to bring a living specimen or its produce back to the Kingdoms for better taxonomic classification.
Propagation:
The vine appears to propagate through cloning, dropping offshoots of its vines when they grow too heavy, only for those offshoots to take root and begin the climb up nearby trees. A mature vine specimen may have hanging tendrils from many different trees, for as it drops offshoots it later reunites with them in the canopies of the trees it climbs upon.
"Panic Poison":
The most interesting feature of the panic vine is the thick compound produced along the length of each creeper. Contact of this compound with bare flesh has the effect of near-instantaneous descent into a profound delirium, wherein one loses their higher capacity for thought and becomes subsumed by a visceral panic. I have observed several members of my crew fall prey to this toxin, and have only half of the afflicted return safely. Further, this toxin promotes a distinct rash which spreads from the area of contact until the substance is removed, accompanied by a sensation as if burned by acid. The delirium can last anywhere from several minutes to many hours, depending upon the constitution and rationality of the man so foolish to grasp the vine.
The primary danger of this poison is the loss of rational behavior it promotes. Men burned by the poison may dash into the jungle in fear, coming into contact with more panic vines and yet worse things, leading to accidental injury or death.
