THE
TEKI
TREE |
The Teki Tree is a small and measly berries-producing tree which can be found mainly in north eastern parts of Santharia. It grows even in rough and snowy terrain, where it serves as a scarce source of food for animals and people alike. Though the berries taste bitter and dry, they are often a welcomed by travellers in the cold north. The pits of the plant, the deep red Teki Seeds, are also used for dying clothes to the colour red.
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Appearance.
The basic, standard structure of the Teki Tree is a skinny,
pale barked trunk with maybe 6 branches sprouting out and upwards. The branches
are twisted and gnarled, with yellow leaves and edible, bitter black berries
hanging on the ends of them. The tree stands no more than about
one ped high with a spread of a few thin, sparse branches with big black
berries drooping down in the fall and late summer. Any farmers looking to make a
few gold coins in the cloth dying market plant the tree in long, straight rows
and harvest the berries for its pits, the deep red Teki Seed.
The tree is best described as measly. It has only a few twisted branches
sprouting from its thin white skinned trunk, with pointy yellow leaves and fat
black berries hanging off them. It grows neither large, nor fast. The tree takes
7 years to reach a stage in growth where it can produce its own seeds, so it’s
an investment to get into the Teki seed market. The entire life span of the tree
can reach upwards to 80 years, but generally they die out around 50-60 years
old.
Territory. This tree
is grown mainly in the
Santharian province of Enthronia, while it does not only prosper
here, this is the main area of Caelereth that
has a market for its seed. All over the world of
Caelereth, cloth is dyed red by this seed,
but Carmalad is the
foremost city of cloth dyers, so here is the market.
Degenerated versions of the tree can also be found futher north in the province
of Nermeran, where they even grow in the
snow covered Tandala Highlands.
The tree is not a bountiful producer, and neither does it ever look
particularly healthy, but it thrives in the soil of
the North East of Santharia, and there it
stays. Teki farms are usually vast, with many leagues to a single farmer, for
the harvest from each tree is generally low and a single man can run his own
thousand trees with ease. This tree also does grow in the wild, but it tends to
do poorly, and it only grows in small clumps of a few to an area. Other areas of
the world have tried to grow this tree, but have had difficulty with it. Most
say this is because you can never move a Teki Tree or seed more than a league from
its mother tree. This may be myth, but it seems to be real, at least to all the
Teki farmer wannabes that couldn’t get a tree to grow.
Usages. The
Teki Tree
has only one use that we know of other than consumption, which is for dying
cloth the colour red. When the pits are taken and crushed into a smeary paste,
it can be mixed with boiling water to produce a deep blood red liquid, used to
dye cloth. The dying process, though, does emit an awfully offensive smell, and
therefore the tree’s seeds have become less popular, although some dyers still
prefer the colour given by the red seeds, regardless of the stench. The berries
can be eaten, and are, but this is not widely done, for it tastes bitter and
dry.
Myth/Lore.
It is said that the Teki Tree was first found to be useful by a man who was
eating the bitter berries. The farmer found the berries to be disgusting, so he
then spit into his handkerchief. After he withdrew his hanky later that day, he
found the colour was stained a rich, full red colour. The rest is history.
Information provided by
Ralhag
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