[Bears Armed]

I was not planning on going into much detail regarding trees in Laeral. I honestly don't know much about the subject- in fact, the species you mentioned were all new to me.

I'll note the 'Dawn Redwood' and 'Gingko' tree as being present in Laeral, with the note that in Laeral, the gingko is referred to as the 'maidenhair' tree (I saw the name on the Wikipedia page for Gingko as an archaic term for the tree).

The 'Golden Larch' looks very nice; I think I'll note it as one of the primary trees in Laeral. I'll also note the 'umbrella pine' and the 'Japanese cedar', although we'll need to find an Iduvian name for that last one. Would you mind telling me the names you used for the Bears Armed Cryptomeria trees?

I was planning on having a species similar to the 'Chinese Plum' (Prunus Mume) though, as the plum blossom (meihua) is a Learalian patriotic symbol which appears on our flag.

I don't know as much about trees as I do about animals, but came across some of these while deciding what Bears Armed would have in addition to the 'Redwood' whose presence I'd already made "necessary" by using it as a Clan's name.

In English, the Bears' names for the Cryptomeria species are the 'Noble Cedar' or 'Elegant Cedar' (which grows tall, and closely resembles the "wild" form of C. japonica) and the 'Laughing Cedar' (which bears a close resemblance to the RL 'spiralis' variety of cultivated C. japonica).
The related shrub from whose bark a ginger-like spice can be produced belongs to the IDU-endemic [& probably monotypic] genus Metacryptomeria and is known as the 'Effbush', with the spice as 'Effbark'. Thus, our counterpart of the RL [British] 'Ginger Beer' is called 'Effbark Ale'. The method for extracting that spice was kept secret within a small number of families, for several centuries, and one of those families actually adopted 'Effbark' as their surname: The most famous member of that family, however, earned his reputation in a different field instead... Active during the 'Bearroque' period, he was the brilliant musical composer Jay Effbark.
I can't provide Latin names for any of these species yet, or for the local species of Sciadopitys, because I still need to check on which forms the endings should take.

Sure, a Plum species is perfectly reasonable. You might have one or more species of Cherry, as well.

Also probably present, in the southern parts of Laeral: one or more species of Magnolia, and -- where they wouldn't be too badly overshadowed by trees -- one or more species of Bamboo... with the latter, of course, potentially providing useful material for numerous purposes. In the uplands closest to Malabra you might even have groves of the 'Puzzle-Pine' which -- instead of being a "true" Pine -- is actually quite a close relative of the RL 'Monkey-Puzzle' tree. Here in RL today that family has two species in South America but is otherwise restricted to the SW Pacific/Australasia/SE Asia regions: It was far more widespread in prehistory, however, with both the semi-precious 'Whitby Jet' [in the UK] and Arizona's 'Petrified Forest' being derived from trees of this general type... and in the IDU the ancestors of this one species, at least, also survived past the Cretaceous/Paleogene transition. The seeds, similar to large 'pine kernels', are a good food although collecting them is labour-intensive and supplies are limited.

Talking of foods, do farmers in your 'Riverlands' include Water Chestnuts (Eleocharis dulcis, or close relatives of this) among their crops?


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