Void botany studies plants that respond to signals, darkness, altered gravity, unusual weather, and contact with void-star material.
Classification
The Nullhaven Botanical Registry groups plants by the kind of energy they can use. Solar plants rely mainly on light, signal plants absorb broadcasts and electrical noise, rift plants draw energy from spatial distortion, and mixed feeders combine several methods.
A second field describes behavior. A plant may be rooted, roaming, climbing, observing, trapping, or colonial. These terms help residents understand a specimen even when its leaves and flowers resemble an unrelated Earth species.
Adaptations
Many void plants use ordinary photosynthesis alongside signal absorption. Their leaves may change shape or color when exposed to unstable spatial fields, and some roots can anchor themselves to a stable signal instead of soil.
Eyes, reflective surfaces, glowing spores, clock-shaped flowers, and repeating leaf patterns are common sensory structures. Botanists do not assume that every eye-shaped organ produces sight; some measure heat, motion, weather, or attention.
Mutation
Rapid mutation was first widely documented in the Whispering Flower. Photographs showed major differences in structure after exposure, leading to new safety rules for garden laboratories.
The Registry uses a five-stage mutation scale. Stage 1 changes pigment, Stage 2 changes leaf or root shape, Stage 3 creates a new sensory organ, Stage 4 changes behavior, and Stage 5 allows the plant to alter nearby weather or space.
Reproduction
Void plants reproduce through seeds, spores, cuttings, signal echoes, and detachable root knots. Signal echoes are brief patterns released by a mature plant; a compatible seedling repeats the pattern and begins growing even when the parent is far away.
Some flowers open only when local clocks agree. Others release spores during static rain or grow fruit after absorbing a complete radio transmission.
Habitats
Documented habitats include the Moon Garden Ward, Aero Lagoon wetlands, Nullhaven rooftops, school greenhouses, lower transit tunnels, and the margins of interspace roads. Species found beside unstable routes are marked with a red field-guide line.
Public use
Cultivated species supply food, medicine, pigments, signal filters, and building material. Restoration teams also use seedlings to measure whether damaged water is safe.
Moonberries are served in school meals, Static Moss protects radio rooms from interference, and Clockpetals provide a rough local time when electronic clocks disagree.
Echo Ferns preserve short sound records, Lantern Roots light public tunnels during outages, and Glassbell Orchids turn charged rain into clean greenhouse water.
Field safety
Residents are taught to observe an unknown plant before touching it. A specimen that turns toward a name, repeats a voice, opens against the light, or casts more than one shadow should be reported to the Registry.
The green field mark means safe to approach, yellow means supervised handling, red means observe from a distance, and black means the specimen's behavior is not yet understood.