Clockflower

The clockflower is a flower indigenous of Tark. The clockflowers are very common in the jungles of Tark, giving them a nice red glow in the night.

Appearance
The flower has twelve black rimmed petals, two fillaments and a needle like thing in the middle, giving it the appearance of a clock. The clockflower is mostly red in colour, in exception for the petals' rims and the fillaments. The needle in the centre of flower is a shining piece of red light encased in a glass like membrane. Although the flower glows using the red light, it cannot shine anyone because of the membrane.

Growth
Clockflowers do not need much sun to grow, but they do need a warm climate and a lot of water. The clockflowers do not reproduce using pollen like terran plants do, instead, they fertilize by tangling their roots together. The seed of the clockflower has a triangular shape and is red in colour. The needle in the middle of the flower serves to attract the Oceanic Tree Glider, a tarkan bird which eats the plant but discards the seed. The bird helps scatter the seed.

Clockflowers can be grown on Earth but it is considered challenging. The plant must be planted in a tropical or subtropical zone, or else be grown indoors. Due to the fact that the composition of Tarks soils are different of that of Earth, several chemicals must be mixed with the soil before sowing. Tarkan soil contain trace amounts of red light, while terran soils contain none(except for a small piece of land in Brazil, where the Red Star fell) Clockflowers grown in terran soil will not produce the needle in the middle. Someone who grows clockflowers on Earth can decide to grind red light and mix it with the soil, though red light is considered hazardous and is difficult to obtain. Shards of glass can serve as an alternative to red light. Shards of glass with translucent glow-in-the-dark paint will even recreate the glowing effect of the flower. Clockflowers also need a red pigment to produce the membrane around the red light of the needle. So translucent red paint can be added to the soil.