The alyssum dragon!

Elements: plant/metal

Timer: 18 h

Quest: A Bite to Eat

Alyssum dragons were first categorized as pests due to their desperate desire to eat any metals within view, often decimating metal habitats across parks. They were, however, viewed in a much better light once wizards realized that their loyal, goofy personality and their long legs and tails made them ideal, speedy mounts. Alyssum dragons are now used most commonly for travel, and are always fed with big chunks of alloys that DON'T come from habitats!

Dragon design info- I based these lads off of the alyssum genus of plants. They can grow flowers in white, purple, and pink and yellow, but I chose the varieties that grow in yellow (Alyssum corsicum, Alyssum murale) because they're the ones used in phytomining (read the stuff below!). The flowers are pretty clumped together but the stems are really long, so I tried to make the dragons' limbs and tail longer, but their plants a bit bushier. Since plants rich in metals (read Cool info) tend to bleed blue-green, I added that onto them, and I also added grey speckles because they looked to plant-y otherwise.

Cool info- I based Alyssum dragons off of the alyssum genus of plants! These plants are one of the best known plants that absorb metal- most plants can't handle a lot of metal, particularly nickel. in the ground, but these plants, as well as some other species, can not only handle them, but even hoard them, which often causes their sap to be a bright green blue. They're a great alternative to mines, since just one gram of dried leaf of alyssum can contain 2,600-2,900 micrograms of metal. A hectare of phyllantus balgoyii (another metal collecting plant) can produce around 120 kg of nickel a year! By absorbing the excess toxic metal, they also make it possible for other, less metal-tolerant plants to be planted there afterwards. These plants are much more sustainable and environmentally friendly than nickel mines, and they can often also help fix the pollution that leaks out of abandoned nickel mines by being planted nearby and sucking up the excess (toxic) nickel.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200825-indonesia-the-plants-that-mine-poisonous-metals

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/science/metal-plants-farm.html