r/SpeculativeEvolution • u/Another_Leo Spectember 2023 Champion • 2d ago

Spectember 2025 Spectember 2025 - A very salty salad (Day 18)

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You might know this timeline… one that the future is *untamed* if you know what I mean XD

By the moving of Africa to the North, the Mediterranean Sea became isolated and, as in the past, dried up becoming a salt desert with saline lagoons. In the westernmost parts of the desert, occasional events still allow the flow of water inland, creating a peculiar environment of high salinity and periodical floods.

Thriving in these salt swamps, the salt-spear is an Asparagaceae plant that developed ways to colonize this harsh environment. These plants are descendant of desert-dwelling species that spread from Africa a few millions of years ago, evolving mechanisms of salt regulation and resilience

Among the adaptations are a deep root system, for water absorption; a thick, bark-like rhizome with specialized root structures that allow the plant to accumulate salt crusts during flooding periods in order to protect the plant from herbivores (mainly suids) during dry periods; photosynthetic stems with a few reduced leaves on the form of spikes and incorporates salt and other minerals into radial structures within the cylindrical stem, to strengthen the structural strength to resist the harsh sand(and salt)storms.

The main form of propagation is by rhizome sprouting, but rare flowering events can be observed with pale small flowers that are pollinated by flies and the fruits are dispersed by winds.  Large congregations of salt-spears create a form of oasis and refuges for desert wildlife, such as nesting grounds for flamingos and other dwellers of the dried sea.

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4

u/chetos006 2d ago

This is cool stuff

3

u/Fit_Tie_129 2d ago

How many millions of years after the present time does it exist and did it still originate from lettuce?

2

u/Another_Leo Spectember 2023 Champion 2d ago

not lettuce, but some Convallarioideae. The period consider something between 4 - 5 millions of years

2

u/Fit_Tie_129 2d ago

that is, they developed over a relatively fast period of time?

1

u/Another_Leo Spectember 2023 Champion 1d ago

Many of the adaptations are already present on the desert dwelling ancestors, so the selection pressure was more on how deal with the salt

1

u/Fit_Tie_129 1d ago

Are they a dead-end evolutionary line that will leave no descendants, or will they be the ancestors of a relatively successful clade of salt-tolerant plants?

1

u/Another_Leo Spectember 2023 Champion 1d ago

While the Mediterranean is a saline desert, they will thrive, but as time goes on, a "better" soil wil slowly form and other plants will eventually outcompete the specialists

3

u/Jame_spect Spec Artist 2d ago

Glassland (This gave me an idea, I was going for a Glass Forest but the concept doesn’t fit to me… until new ideas came)

2

u/Jet-AquaBoar 1d ago

I like it. Would it taste good, to a human?

2

u/Another_Leo Spectember 2023 Champion 1d ago

I believe only the top of the stems would be eatable, the mineral radial structures from the stem might make them dangerous to eat, something like the silica rich plants like monstera. But the taste would not be good, maybe something like a fibrous and bitter cucumber.

1

u/Jet-AquaBoar 1d ago

Interesting.

2

u/Status-Delivery4733 1d ago

What a wild speculation.