Opulila

Opulila

A textbook illustration of the Opulila plant. A. A side drawing of the plant's vining branches. B. A close-up of the plant's red leaves.

Opulila is a species of vine native to La Rossa. Boasting unique purplish leaves all year round, the color is used as a deterrent for pests to avoid it. Containing a compound that leads to numbness and paralysis, the plant is often lethally dangerous for most insects that touch it. However, it has seen use among humans as a folk medicine used to relieve acute pain. The painkiller opulilum has been extracted from the plant in 62 PC.

The vine often lives in symbiosis with larger plant species and trees, protecting them from harmful pests, in exchange sapping them for nutrients it struggles to collect on its own due to a hindered capability for photosynthesis.

Description

The opulila plant is a vine that grows in the mountainous forests of the island of La Rossa. Frequently using larger trees as support, it climbs vertically in height and wraps around the trunk, growing in length only as far as the tree itself constrains it. When a tree isn't present, it grows as a much shorter, unsupported trailing vine. The vine's base is its woody stem, from which small leaves (approximately 2-5cm in length) and clusters branch off in thinner, usually looping stalks. The leaves, colored a deep purplish-red during all seasons of the year, are colored to signal danger to the various insects and pests that feast on plantlife. The leaves contain a compound that leads to numbness and paralysis, and tends to be dangerous and potentially lethally toxic for most insects and some smaller animals that come in contact with it.

Due to its aggressive toxicity, it often lives in symbiosis with tree species on the island, protecting them from harmful pests, in exchange sapping them for nutrients it struggles to collect on its own due to a hindered capability for photosynthesis. Oftentimes looping around the treetrunk throughout its entire height, large portions of the tree end up protected through its wide-spanning leaf network. Haustoria, smaller root-like structures belonging to the vine, grow around the tree to provide stability in structure as well as to draw nutrients from it. Highly unusually for vining plants, opulila reproduces through small, barely perceptible spores that grow on the bottom side of the leaves, carried by the wind once ready. The vines do not reproduce asexually, however, as the spores grow into much smaller, differently looking gametophytes that grow usually in the presence of water. The gametophytes, capable of sexually reproducing, fertilize each other and produce another vining plant. With two alternating generations, one producing sexually and the other asexually, the vine shows similarity to ferns, although it isn't certain whether there is a link.

Use as medicine

Folk Medicine

Despite its harmful effects on smaller animals, in humans it is, however, capable of producing a soothing and painkilling effect in minor exposures. It has historically been used as a folk medicine by the Montagneri for treatment of acute pain, either by tight application of the leaf against the skin where pain is felt, or by grinding it into oil which is then rubbed onto the pained area. Although used primarily to stop pain, stronger applications may lead to a total loss of sensation and even the ability to control the affected parts of the body. The effect, although usually undesireable, has been considered strangely pleasant by some when in controlled circumstances. Occasionally uring celebrations, usually in combination with wine and alcohol, its leaves have been chewed on as a recreational drug to produce a feeling of numbness and relaxation. Recent studies have stated there are possible negative neurological effects, however.

Modern Medicine

Taking note of its traditional applications and potency, in 62 PC Rossan scientists have extracted the active compound of the leaves that produces the numbing effect, naming the substance opulilum. Establishing Chimicalion, a pharmaceutical company, clinical trials would be performed and opulilum would be placed on the Rossan and international market as a tested painkiller and numbing agent. In La Rossa, it is available over-the-counter in smaller doses, usually in pill form. It has also seen use in surgery as a localized anaesthetic.