Yellow Deathcatheter
Journal entry #104: Today, after a delightfully restful day of practicing translating, I had the energy to explore on my own. I decided that it has been far too long since collecting some sort of sample for my sponsor, Lord Rimwich, so I travelled for about two hours before stumbling upon yet another offensively neon forest. This one, however, was nearly devoid of fauna, yet tried to eat me alive. Read on.
The Yellow Deathcatheter (Morsfistula flavo), also known as the Yewtube, is a carnivorous tree native to the neon forests of Skaoi IV. The deathcatheter is neon yellow, has a wide trunk, and has no leaves. Its slender and plentiful network of red roots are infused with Kila and extends deep into Downtown Skaoi. It is coated in a toxic, sticky, green sap that sticks any small insect or animal that tries to eat at its soft bark. Its trunk branches into large upward-facing tubes. The opening of these tubes serve as the mouth of the plant.
This mouth is lined on the inside with contraptions akin to Chinese finger traps. Its primary prey is the ghallas ratbird, which it catches by first attracting them into its mouth with a horrible smell similar to burning flesh mixed with fried rotting fruit, blended with unrefined petrol and flat La Croix. Its fingertrap-lined mouth catches hold of the long beaks of the ratbird and then floods its mouth with a strong acid. Its mouth can hold up to twenty to fifty unassuming ratbirds at a time. The deathcatheter needs to eat only ten ratbirds a week, but leaves its mouth open to eat even if unnecessary. It competes with the occasional surfacing Interior Arachnowyrm for food.
Other related flora and color variants of the yellow deathcatheter are reported to exist on Skaoi IV, as its deep roots hold the dirt together. One of the rarer, shorter cousins of the deathcatheter is the Feralivinea rubrum, commonly referred to as red vines, but they went extinct recently because a certain someone forgot about the safety on their flamethrower.
Dr. Rosalie F. Wyndenhart, Visiting Professor of Astrobiology and Ornithology