The Sammangal

The Sammangal biome: left is dry season, with seeds covering the ground like snow, and right is monsoon, saplings waving in the flood waters. By corvarts.

Perhaps the most unique of the ecosystems of Lemuria, the Sammangal owes its name to its signature tree type (from Werer, *samman “tree” and *gal “feather”). This unique plant is part of the broader Sammangalitales, a clade unique to Lemuria and most closely resembling the extinct Glossopteridales; genetic studies place it as outside the gymnosperm + angiosperm group, and likely survived in Mesozoic islands in the Tethys that were later assimilated by Marama and then Lemuria as a whole. Most members of this clade are aquatic and can be found throught Lemuria’s more typical aquatic environments, including the Great Lakes. They are generally completely aquatic herb-like plants, but not the Sammangal proper, which has developed wood structurally similar to that of araucariaceaeans (as well as the extinct Glossopteris).

The genus itself diverged from it’s closest relatives during the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. This is a time when the extreme monsoon climates in the eastern Indian Ocean intensified, giving an opening to a type of aquatic plant that jutted out of the water for the first time in millions of years (since they are land plants that returned to an aquatic existence after all). To take advantage of the extreme periods of drought and flood, the Sammangal A) became a full fledged tree with wood, B) developed fast and efficient reproductive methods, and C) developed means of culling competition.

With A) already explored, let’s explore B). The Sammangal seeds are structurally similar to those of Glossopteridales, with a crucial difference: they are covered in hairy, fine roots, that give them a downy apparence. These roots not only allow the seed to be carried by the wind, but also retain and obtain moisture during the dry season, thus ensuring their survival as they pile on the ground, in mats of organic snow. When they are submerged in water during the monsoon floods, the already present root system takes no time in attaching to the floor and begin growing. Seeds that end up in ponds and rivulets that ensure during the dry eason have a head start already.

Suffice to say, the Sammangal produces seeds during the dry season, with the intent of piling up and prevent other plants from taking root. This leads us to C), which is to produce an acid that tears down the cell walls of competing plants. This is done by the roots, which are immune themselves and protect the seedling from said acids due to their sheer density, until there’s enough water to disperse the acid away. Sammangal soils are thus quite acidic, and the only other plants that thrive in this ecosystem are some species of mangroves.

There are four species of Sammangal:  Black Sammangal (S. nigerocortex), the Geoluread Sammangal (S. heliocolor), the Jangala Sammangal (S. xenoramus) and the Red Sammangal (S. sanguis). The former is least acid-tolerant and typically either occurs in normal wetland biomes or upstream in the Sammangal forest, least likely to be submerged in acid from its relatives. Inversely, the Geoluread Sammangal occurs at the edges of this biome in the sea, thus being submerged nearly all times. The Red and Jangala (the latter from the name for the Sammangal plants as a whole in the Atratra language) thus are the main components of the Sammangal forest proper.

Sammangal forests have open canopies, making the forest floor quite well lit. Combined with the mats of white seeds, wandering about can be quite a blinding experience. Yet, the abundance of food attracts all manner of herbivores, from ants (several species in fact unique to the Sammangal) to peafowl to elephants. Preying upon them is the Ningal, the Lemurian Serpent Eagle, and the occasional crocodile in the relictual ponds and rivulets. Monitor lizards, sphenodonts and the flying volaticotheres represent threats to small and medium sized prey like dryolestloids and several gondwanatheres.

Then come the monsoon floods. You’d think that all the seeds would be washed away out to sea – and some are -, but the sheer commulative weight means a number at the bottom layers remain in place, and thus can germinate. Others are brought upstream by other means, like sticking to the herbivores that feed on them. Once growing, the desolate forest floor becomes like a freshwater kelp forest, the plants waving in the currents as wood only begins to form when the water levels drop. The freshwater dungong, turtles and all manner of fish and herbivorous caecilians feed on these plants as well as on the submerged leaves of adult trees. Preying on them are crocodilians – including the Lemurian Gharial – sharks (both bull and freshwater) and carnivorous caecilians.

Thus, while poor in plant diversity, the Sammangal is a thriving ecosystem that many animal species rely on. And humanity came to join them.

Evidence of Sammangal cultivation begins during the Sprout Era; sites like Fatamara-Wesir showcase cannals used to control the floods, allowing for the prosperity of the more appetizing Black and Geoluread varieties. All sammangal seeds can be consumed raw with no problem, though due to the lower acidity the Black and Geoluread varities were initially preffered. However, with the development of Lemurian cuisine, breeding of the Red and Jangala varieties to produce sweeter seeds (which in turn also increased their reproductive capabilities, growing faster than any competitors) ensured that by around 8,000 BCE they became the dominant sammangals once more.

Besides seeds and wood, the Sammangal provides an excellent environmental control, since the seeds’ acidity can prevent undesirable plants. Traditional Lemurian gardens therefore are at least partly submerged on the borders, allowing Sammangal to grow and form a frontier around other plants; the cannals are dug asymmetrically, more water (and less acid) flowing to the desirable plants within the garden and only acidic water on the outer side. Some varities have also been bred to be purely decorative; these are usually kept on specific ponds in residences.

Due to the agricultural reliance on the Sammangal, the biome has expanded significantly: where once only found on the northern regions of the continent, it is now present all throught East Lemuria and parts of the West. Still, this did not prove catastrophic, as the above methods of agriculture ensured the survival of rainforest plants like ginkgos, forming thus mosaics that are productive enough for both human beings and wild animals like elephants and lemurs.

Currently, the biggest threat to the Sammangal is the adoption of western agricultural methods, that both erase these mosaics and prommote deflorestation. The Sammangal has thus become an icon of Lemurian identity and how harmony with the environment can be productive without sacrificing the balance between man and nature.