Balloon grass (Na'vi name: pxorze) resembles a patch of tall, feathery grass surrounding a flat, gourd-like flower head, above a deep root structure that extends far beyond the footprint of the plant itself. Balloon grass grows in "family" groups. A larger "mother" plant is connected to several smaller offspring by their roots and they share nutrients and have a linked nervous system, which facilitates a unique defense mechanism.
When one member of a balloon grass "family" detects an approaching animal, the whole group engages in a deimatic "threat" display. Air quickly fills the plant's gourd inflating it to a height of between three and six meters. The presumed effect of this group movement, particularly for fast moving creatures like direhorses, is that a pack of predators has suddenly reared out of the long grass causing the animal to retreat.
If the animal continues to approach, the gourd will continue to inflate until it explodes in a disorienting burst of pollen. An inflated balloon grass will also burst if struck, and if the "mother" plant explodes, a chain reaction occurs causing the other linked saplings to burst.
Balloon grass "families" flourish in the long grass and plentiful sunshine of the veldt.
Na'vi Culture[]
Balloon grass is well known to Na'vi who live in or frequent the grassy planes of the Upper Plains and is frequently an inconvenience to direhorse riders. Its quickly inflating patches are known to startle a galloping direhorse, an unpleasant experience for inexperienced riders unused to their neural link.
The balloon grass and its fruit is inedible, but the leaves can be woven into strong, short strings used for small fastenings. The gourd itself, when dried, takes on a wood like toughness and a pleasing, burnished sheen.
Na'vi frequently craft the gourds into bottles and large jars used to store or ferment other foodstuffs, these gourds are traditionally etched with depictions of the changing seasons around their circumference.
See also[]
Source[]
- Hunter's Guide in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
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