Spinefrond

Spinefrond is a tye of plant, native to the Great Grass Sea and the Southern Threshold. It is a plant of broad leaves, spread between ‘fingers’, spiny stems which are hardened and more akin to bone than branch. These spines, both sharp, firm, and narrow, are dangerous to travellers as they easily pierce skin and lacerate passers-by. Yet, despite this danger they are sought out across Creation by those who engage in the crafts of needlework and surgery, for they are ideal for such purposes, while the leaves themselves can be boiled to create a hearty broth for sustenance.

The Realm’s Benevolent Stewards of Health and Utility requires significant numbers of Spinefrond spines for stitching wounds, and so the plant is harvested and provided as part of the tribute paid by many Southern satrapies. With the current unsettled state of the Realm in absence of the Scarlet Empress, the Great Houses have turned to demanding more immediately profitable tributes... as a result, shortages of needles have begun to crop up across the Blessed Isle. Some officials of the Foreign Office and Caretakers have attempted to stem the loss, but as yet have achieved little success.