Ghales

Ghales is a plant that grows in brackish and salt waters. It is a halophyte vascular plant, which propagates itself extremely rapidly by means of interlocking stolons. It is buoyant because of specialized gas-containing stems that hold the main stem upright in the water. The vegetation often grows over a meter high. Although ghales can live free-floating, the roots sometimes extend to the mud in shallow areas of less dramatic tidal variation. Ghales will extend a little bit onto land, particularly in areas that are inundated during the spring tide, but it requires abundant water. It is so adapted to brackish and salt water conditions that it actually grows poorly in freshwater, often being overtaken by disease.

Ghales is bitter and contains heat labile tropane alkaloids that are poisonous to humans and most other animals, though teopoi, in particular domesticated breeds, are resistant. It can also be rendered non-poisonous to humans, if not exactly a choice comestible, by prolonged boiling. It is sometimes used for medicinal effect or in rituals, though only the Sea Peoples consider it highly as an entheogen.