Name: Cani’sliwa ("Dog’s Hair")

Overview

Dog’s hair is a pleasant sight around the Lori and is considered a weed to most common people. During Yimden and Saun the glowing, flying “hairs” are everywhere on the wind getting all over the place, giving the plant its name. Holistic healers rely heavily on every aspect of this plant and alchemists around Idalos covet the Night-Light Powder made from its seeds.

Description

Medicine women have been using this plant for arcs upon arcs. The health benefits are numerous and it would be well loved if the seeds didn’t overtake the winds during the Hot Cycle. Luckily these plants only grow by water, similar in that way to cattails else all of Desnind and the Lori would have these growing in every nook, cranny, and corner after their spreading season. While most people see them as a nuisance, there are some who find their glowing seeds to be beautiful and haunting. Others genuinely love the flowers and will press them into books. It’s common for those in love to make wreaths for each other on the banks of the Tosibree out of this flower.

It’s said Moseke created cani’sliwa to light the way for travellers in the dark corners of the Makubwa Lori. Indeed, in some of the thicker, swampy areas of the forest it would be a welcome sight for there to be some light shed. Night-light powder created by the seeds is easy to make even for a novice alchemist and has saved more than one person lost in the Lori. Another reagent made by it is "Dog’s Hair Juice", a commodity for adventurers who want a steroid in battle. Healers in Desnind love this plant for its many herbal uses as well, often people who come in looking for a vitamin or stomach remedy get handed this plant in one form or another.

Appearance:

Cani’sliwa is a long, wiry plant with one to three thin stalks and spiky leaves. “Dog’s hair” grows in clusters of around 15 to 20 plants, plant each sporting five flowers a piece. The plants grow to about two feet high and the light pink flowers are an inch wide in diameter. As the flowers mature and become seed they turn into glowing, fluffy hairballs that when blown disperse and ride the wind. The glow is light pink in color and dull, though at night the sight of a massive amount of these could be equally haunting or beautiful. The root is similar in appearance to a dandelion’s root and is well anchored, it can be hard to remove by hand.

Location: In shady areas of the Makubwa Lori and always near water. Found all along the Tosibeere River. In Desnind by ponds there is sometimes some stray plants but they are almost always uprooted quickly, you won't usually come across them in the city.

Hazard / Toxicity

None other than stepping on it, the leaves have spikes.

Uses:

Seeds

The seeds are used in alchemy to make a glow-in-the-dark powder that never washes off or fades for 20 trials. (Night-Light Powder)

Flower

• Crushing, boiling, and distilling the flower petals into a potion that can be used to rid folks of bruises and fatigue, even staving away exhaustion. (Dog’s Hair Juice)
• Non-alchemical uses have the petals just being blended into a smoothie or other drink. The flowers have well known benefits for helping stomach ulcers or mouth ulcers. They are full of antioxidants as well. It also helps with pain, though nominally and not usually taken for this purpose when made into a drink.

Leaves and stalk

The leaves and stalk of this plant are full of sugar and flavor. These are often made into a homemade wine that the native to Desnind affectionately call “woof wine” as they say it will have you barking mad and on all fours like a dog at the end of the night. It’s of similar quality to moonshine and will often have other flavors or berries added to it.

The leaves in particular are used in holistic healing as a poultice for things such as abscesses or other sores, cuts, or scrapes on the body. After the spikes have been scraped off of course!

Root

The root is dried and cut up or made into a powder. Some people take the powder as a vitamin for all sorts of benefits. Heart health, blood health, memory, detoxification. This makes the root quite the commodity though dried it has a shelf life of only 85 days. It must be refined into the powder and stored in a cool, dark, dry place to keep for arcs.

Credit:

Thanks to Dula