Ghyll:Fefferberry

Bless my stars and garters! Dibbed! --Doctor Phineas Crank 07:48, 14 Oct 2004 (EDT)

Also known as; Bull's Bush, Pizzle Bush, and Andelphracia's Bush

Identification and Field Marks: The fefferberry is a rambling bramble of a bush in the What-Is-That-Awful-Smell family which grows in almost every nook and cranny in Ghyll. There are a number of varieties of fefferberry, only some of which are usefull (see below). All varieties, however, share some similar traits. For instance, the stalk of all fefferberry bushes are a deep, bloody red with a fine network of pale blue veins and have the scrambling habit of throwing off dense arching stems carrying short curved very sharp spines, the branches rooting from the node tip when they reach the ground. It has palmate leaves of 3 - 5 leaflets which are a rich emerald green and have white veins that form a lightning-like pattern. The fefferberry flowers are generally white or pink with the faintest of blue and red tracings through them. The luminous fefferberries glow from within thanks to the unusually strong theoalchemical properties of their seeds.

Of special note is the terrible smell which rotting fefferberries make. They have been compared to rotting flesh, in particular the rotting flesh left over from making Sarfelogian Mountains Oysters from poor, unsuspecting bulls. It is this peculiarity that gives the fefferberry bush some of its more "unfortunate" nicknames.

Bloom Period: Fefferberries can be found in bloom by early Darwina and their blooming is often celebrated as a rite of Spring. The flowers fall off in late Fusil resulting in a luminous blue fruit, the fefferberries themselves, which ripen to perfection in early Ikk. Fefferberry bushes grow almost constantly, however, no matter the season.

Similar Species: others like it (good for phantoms)

Habitat: Though fefferberry bushes may be found almost anywhere in Ghyll, they favor marshy, damp places where burnflies might be found. They are quite aggressive and will devour the surrounding countryside if given half a chance. In fact, it has been said that the Evesque Valley was once entirelly swallowed by one giant fefferberry bush and it was only the Smallwood Family's discovery of the Mute Chukarandos which saved the Valley.

Economic Importance: The fefferberry is so a part of life on Ghyll that both the Cranee Historical Society and the Carsokian Family have made it part of their respective crests. Besides being a major ingredient in Andelphracian Lights, fefferberries are used to produce a potent wine which is quite popular with tourists to the Evesque Valley region. The seeds are prized not only for their illuminative properties, but also for their ritual use by assorted Occultologists, though their exact use in those rituals are a closely guarded secret. The prize fefferberry, as judged at the Calends Gala, is used to determine the mass of 1 gyup and is the standard against which a gyup is measured until the next Calends Gala.

It also is the critical ingredient in fefferberry scones, which go quite nicely with your Umlaut Tea.