Aliwara
The aliwara is a wide variety of various, flowering plants and their associated fruit; superficially, the aliwara appear related to the Solanum family of flowering plants, with fruiting bodies (berries/fruit) of similar physical appearance and description. Aliwara grow in a wide variety of environments in the Sacral Empire, though the most predominant – and most sought-after – form of the aliwara family is that of the noa’thun aliwara – the “purple-face” or “red-face” aliwara.

The noa’thun aliwara grows predominantly in exceptionally humid environments of sub-tropical to tropical conditions; due to the rarity of surface water in the Sacral Empire, most noa’thun are grown in specific, artificial habitats engineered to produce them. Unlike most of the aliwara varieties, the noa’thun is considerably rare in the wild; likewise, it’s physical characteristics sometimes vary quite considerable from wild samples of aliwara.

The noa’thun aliwara plant is large, with median samples reaching heights of approximately 250 centimeters; in its lifetime, a noa’thun plant will often produce in-excess of four hundred fruit if maintained in optimal growing conditions. The noa’thun aliwara fruit itself is quite large and grows in a vaguely squat, spherical habit; much of the fruit is covered in red- or purple-toned veins running through its skin. Leaves of the plant mimic this coloration, dependent upon growing conditions, and range in size from three centimeters in width and eight in length, to thirteen in width and twenty-eight in length.

Unlike many varieties of aliwara, noa’thun aliwara is exceptionally toxic in all its forms; stems, despite being largely herbaceous, are inedible and leaves of the plant are so toxic they have been previously used as poisonous additives. The noa’thun fruit itself is, also, toxic if improperly prepared. To be consumed, the fruit must be briefly boiled, then must have its skin removed, ridding the deep-red to purple meat of the fruit of the poison-filled veins which run through its skin. Once this is performed, the noa’thun fruit is still toxic, and as such is often sliced very thin and served only in small amounts as an edible garnish or additive to other, larger dishes or preparations.

In some Nahseraa bands, specifically the Haashir, the noa’thun aliwara fruit has been documented being utilized for medicinal purposes, chiefly as a form of rudimentary pain medication due to the numbing and de-sensitizing effect the poisons which fill the meat of the fruit have on most individuals.

Baandil
The baandil is a wild species of flowering, xeromorphic plant with a vague similarity to several Solarian forms of the members of the smilax species (catbriers, greenbriers, sarsaparillas, etc.) which is found exclusively amongst the drum sands of many worlds within the Sacral Empire. Known colloquially as the “drum bell” or “drum bell weed”, the plant grows in large patches in the deep-orange drum sands, with a single growth specimen sometimes covering up to ten square kilometers. Leaves are large (up to three centimeters wide and eight centimeters in length), stems are herbaceous and hearty; flowers of the baandil weed are, initially, quite small, growing in clumps of ten to twenty, often with a color spectrum ranging from white to a pale, canary yellow.

Twice a year (toward the end of the local fertile season and toward the end of the local harvest season), the fruit of the baandil (“drum bells”) reach maturity; baandil fruit are roughly spherical in shape, approximately one centimeter in diameter, and are a deep-red or scarlet color. Baandil fruit, however, are shrouded in a thick and hard, but thin shell for much of their maturation cycle, requiring them to be cracked or broken-open after harvest; the baandil fruit shell or skin has sometimes been compared to a smaller analogue of coconut husks, and are usually retained from the baandil after harvest due to the wide variety of uses for both the shells themselves and the thin, sinew-like fibers which cover them. Baandil fruit, the “drum bells”, are often eaten raw and are said to have a very tart, even sour flavor; when not eaten raw, they are often stewed or reduced with simple syrup and added to a variety of cereals or grains and may even be drank or sipped in reduction as a beverage.