12-02-2017, 04:17 PM
Now, Trees.
I don't know how much detail you're interested in considering on this point, but it would fit the theme for the Riverlands [at least] to have a species of Gingko and either the RL Dawn Redwood or a fairly close relative of this (but probably not the same species that's found in some parts of western Bears Armed [Mainland]), although both might -- as in RL China -- survive now only where they've been deliberately planted by people. Some other "interesting" conifers that occur in RL eastern Asia but are less familiar to Europeans & Americans are the Golden Larch, the [Japanese] Umbrella Pine (genus Sciadopitys, now limited to one species in Japan but prehistorically also occurring at least as far west as the shores of the Baltic Sea where it gave rise to that area's famous Amber deposits...), and genus Cryptomeria (the 'Japanese Cedar' or -- more rarely -- 'Chinese Cedar', cultivated in both Japan and China for so long that its wild origins have been lost...): Bears Armed [Mainland] has two species of Cryptomeria, either or both of which could also occur in parts of the former Antrium if you like the concept but don't want either to use the RL species or to invent any endemic ones of your own... We also have a species of coniferous shrub, in a related but endemic genus, whose bark can be processed to yield a spice with similar properties to Ginger...
:Bear:
I don't know how much detail you're interested in considering on this point, but it would fit the theme for the Riverlands [at least] to have a species of Gingko and either the RL Dawn Redwood or a fairly close relative of this (but probably not the same species that's found in some parts of western Bears Armed [Mainland]), although both might -- as in RL China -- survive now only where they've been deliberately planted by people. Some other "interesting" conifers that occur in RL eastern Asia but are less familiar to Europeans & Americans are the Golden Larch, the [Japanese] Umbrella Pine (genus Sciadopitys, now limited to one species in Japan but prehistorically also occurring at least as far west as the shores of the Baltic Sea where it gave rise to that area's famous Amber deposits...), and genus Cryptomeria (the 'Japanese Cedar' or -- more rarely -- 'Chinese Cedar', cultivated in both Japan and China for so long that its wild origins have been lost...): Bears Armed [Mainland] has two species of Cryptomeria, either or both of which could also occur in parts of the former Antrium if you like the concept but don't want either to use the RL species or to invent any endemic ones of your own... We also have a species of coniferous shrub, in a related but endemic genus, whose bark can be processed to yield a spice with similar properties to Ginger...
:Bear: