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Description
Ferraphytes are actually highly specialised members of phylum Intestinopsa!

www.deviantart.com/tree-sparro… Ancestral life cycle.
www.deviantart.com/tree-sparro… Ferraphyte anatomy.

The dolicha life stage has evolved to live inside a tube comprised of iron oxide and other compounds. Ferraphytes were ancestrally marine, deep sea-dwelling detritivores. Some species of ferraphytes have since acquired a symbiosis with red-coloured algae of the kingdom Erythrophyta within their feeding palps, and are thus photosynthetic. On land, the iron plants are the dominant group of flora.

The medusa life stage has atrophied into simple spores which allow these organisms to disperse both in land and in water. Once a spore settles, it germinates into a barnacle-like life stage known as a germling. Germlings possess only one photosynthetic palp, now referred to as a "plume", along with several sensory palps used to detect light direction. Germlings eventually develop into adults with many plumes and extensive root systems.

It's worth noting that this life cycle isn't particularly unique or interesting (when compared to life cycles of organisms on Earth), but it's useful to understand its emergence from the ancestral life cycle of intestinopsans.

Description
Ferraphytes are actually highly specialised members of phylum Intestinopsa!

www.deviantart.com/tree-sparro… Ancestral life cycle.
www.deviantart.com/tree-sparro… Ferraphyte anatomy.

The dolicha life stage has evolved to live inside a tube comprised of iron oxide and other compounds. Ferraphytes were ancestrally marine, deep sea-dwelling detritivores. Some species of ferraphytes have since acquired a symbiosis with red-coloured algae of the kingdom Erythrophyta within their feeding palps, and are thus photosynthetic. On land, the iron plants are the dominant group of flora.

The medusa life stage has atrophied into simple spores which allow these organisms to disperse both in land and in water. Once a spore settles, it germinates into a barnacle-like life stage known as a germling. Germlings possess only one photosynthetic palp, now referred to as a "plume", along with several sensory palps used to detect light direction. Germlings eventually develop into adults with many plumes and extensive root systems.

It's worth noting that this life cycle isn't particularly unique or interesting (when compared to life cycles of organisms on Earth), but it's useful to understand its emergence from the ancestral life cycle of intestinopsans.