Clavifera tenebrosa: The Shadow Collar
🔬 Scientific Name: Clavifera tenebrosa
🪦 Common Name: “The Shadow Collar” or “Clavichoke”
🌱 Classification:
• Kingdom: Plantae
• Order: Santalales
• Family: Myelophytidae (ONYXBONE-specific)
• Genus: Clavifera
• Species: tenebrosa
🧠 Morphology:
• Growth Form: Parasitic epiphyte that anchors to cervical and clavicular bone structures (living or abandoned).
• Stem: Creeping, semi-flexible, striated like ligament under tension. Covered in minute glyph-burrs.
• Leaves: Asymmetrical, translucent, shaped like stretched scapular membranes. Edges curl inward toward the spine.
• Inflorescence: Hangs in downward-facing umbels resembling fused clavicles. Flowers are dark ivory, soft-gilled, and emit a bone-powder mist when touched.
• Roots: Threadlike haustoria that bore into porous bone to feed on memory density and residual justification.
🦴 Traits:
• Vectophagic: Consumes improperly named bone segments and “corrects” them via glyph bloom.
• Mimetic Defence: Foliage subtly rearranges itself to mirror the skeletal host’s alignment posture.
• Communication: Emits inaudible pulse-scent in the presence of false speech.
📍 Habitat:
• Found in ossuary canopies, collapsed crypt ceilings, and spinal grottos.
• Prefers dry, echo-heavy microclimates with residual resonance fields.
⚠️ Risk Profile:
• [G5-R] – May induce clavicular stammer and scapular misalignment in exposed vertebrates.
• Reproduction via spore-drift in bone ash.
📝 Notes:
• “We found it feeding on a corpse that had never been named.”
• “When it blooms, it smells like mourning breath.”
• “It hummed my name — but wrong.”