Vast groves of featherstems carpet the open plains of Melidora. These sessile organisms are members of a group called the tenucaulians, Melidora's rough equivalent of Terran plants. But while Terran plants can produce their own food from sunlight, tenucaulians are unable to do this. Instead, they cultivate colonies of autotrophic microbes. The microbes do the hard work of photosynthesis, and the tenucaulian simply absorbs the sugars they produce into its stem.

The microbes are grown on leaf-like structures that extend outwards from the main stem. To compensate for Utu's dimness, tenucaulian leaves are quite large, so the microbes can absorb enough sunlight for their photosynthetic processes. Branching, feathery leaves, like those of the Featherstem's, have a large surface area and are thus highly efficient.

The most remarkable aspect of the Featherstem lies below ground. Here, the creature has an intricate network of roots that join with the roots of other Featherstems to form a complex root network that can stretch for tens of kilometers. The root network allows tenucaulians to distribute food and water to each other. Parents can even recognize their offspring by way of special chemical signatures transmitted through the root network.

No tenucaulian produces "flowers" in the same way that some Terran plants do. Instead, tenucaulians reproduce through airborne spores. This mode of reproduction works well in the dense, windy Melidoran atmosphere. The Featherstem spores are fertilized through special channels in the root network, and then blow away, sometimes landing many kilometers from their parents. As they land, they are still trapped in their winged husks. They lie dormant, waiting for a lightning storm. When lightning storms ignite the dry plains, they start wildfires, which rapidly spread in the highly oxygenated Melidoran environment. The heat of the fire is just enough to melt the waxy secretion that binds the husk together, freeing the trapped sapling. The sapling then sends its newly-sprouted roots down to the root network. It will receive all the food it needs from its parents until it is able to grow its own colony of autotrophic bacteria.