From Voidpedia, the residents' encyclopedia

Mirrortrap Lily

Reflection-tracking flower of sealed atriums

The Mirrortrap Lily is a metallic-leaved flower that copies nearby silhouettes across its petals and turns rapidly toward moving reflections.

Appearance

A mature plant grows from a dense knot of storage roots and carries long dark-green leaves with a dull metallic surface. The open flower has two rings of silver-black petals surrounding a deep red central lens.

The petals are living tissue rather than metal or glass. Their layered cells reflect sharp shapes while absorbing most background color, so a nearby resident may appear as a dark silhouette on several petals at once.

Reflection response

The center compares motion seen across the petals. When the same moving shape appears in more than one reflection, the stem bends toward the brightest copy and the outer petals close around it.

Mirrored rooms can produce dozens of competing copies. Under those conditions the bloom may turn without warning, strike nearby glass, or continue following a reflection after the original resident has left.

Reproduction

After a quiet week, the red center divides into a flat wheel of dark seed chambers. Each seed opens only after receiving reflected daylight from two directions, which prevents dense growth in ordinary soil.

A quiet week produces a wheel of seed chambers. Each seed opens only under reflected daylight from two directions.

Voidpedia image

Mirrortrap Lily reproduction diagram

Mirrortrap Lily reproduction diagram: after a quiet week the red center becomes a wheel of seed chambers; seeds open when reflected daylight reaches them from two directions. Later growth is not documented.

A quiet week produces a wheel of seed chambers. Each seed opens only under reflected daylight from two directions.

Field safety

Residents remain at least four meters from an open flower and do not carry mirrors, polished screens, or reflective jewelry across its sight line. Registry staff inspect the plant from behind a matte curtain using a fixed camera.

References

  1. The Void Times plant section
  2. Void botany overview