Plants

Plants are among the most primitive forms of life on a planet. Not all planets have environments that support plants.

Plants naturally occur on planets in the habitable zone with standard, tainted, or exotic atmospheres that have a density of at least 10%. Plants also occur near the sea on hot inner worlds and cold outer worlds with suitable atmospheres. Plant density on the surface of a planet is visible from orbit as green patches of varying darkness.

Most plants are a source of natural resources. The quality of each plant-borne natural resource commodity is the same throughout each resource zone of a planet. The quality of commodities produced does not vary by latitude or by tree specie. In other words, all trees in the same resource zone will produce the same quality logs, no matter what they look like.

A planet is divided into three resource zones, like an orange divided into three equal slices. Resource quality and abundance varies by zone. The only visible change from one zone to the next is the appearance of the plant life. Otherwise, you must spot the terrain to watch for a change in resource quality to notice that you are in a different zone. Moons and extremely tiny planets have only one zone. Ringworlds are divided into seven zones, corresponding to the seven day/night cycle bands.

 Plants can be foraged from the environment. To forage the natural resource present at a plant, simply switch to Hand Input mode and click at the center of the base, where a tree meets the ground or at the center of a cluster of shrubs. Hand mode is accessed while holding down the Ctrl key or by right-clicking the mouse.

Species
Plant species are distributed in each resource zone into three latitude regions: polar, temperate, and tropical. Each of those three regions contains a complete ecosystem of unique plant life consisting of eighteen species of plants, divided between ground cover, shrubs, and trees. This means 54 different plant species exist in each of three resource zones, for a total of 162 different plant species on each planet.

Plants are classified into three types.
Ground Cover - Small clumps of plants with no intrinsic resource value. Ground cover is not a threat to people or animals.

Shrubs - Small to medium sized plants that produce a useable natural resource. A complete ecosystem of shrubs includes eleven species. Each different shrub specie produces a natural resource commodity.
Beans
Fruit
Grain
Grapes
Hay
Herbs
Hops
Nuts
Plant Fiber
Spices
Vegetables
Trees - Small to large sized plants with a thick woody trunk. Trees, like shrubs, produce useful natural resources. A complete ecosystem of trees includes six species. Each different tree specie produces a natural resource commodity.
Fruit
Herbs
Logs
Nuts
Plant Fiber
Spices

Plant species are stored using a compact string of data, referred to as its DNA. The DNA of plants in Hazeron is capable of describing quadrillions of combinations. The 3D model representation of each plant is synthesized from its DNA. After traveling to many planets you may see a plant that reminds you of another plant you saw elsewhere but it is unlikely to be identical.

Defenses
Trees and shrubs may have visible thorns or other natural defenses, usually chemical-based. Shrubs and trees with large thorns or other defenses will harm your character on contact.

The contact area of a tree is the trunk.

The contact area of a shrub may not be obvious, especially with widely dispersed shoots. A shrub's contact zone is a circular area centered on its location, slightly smaller than the broadest distribution of shoots. It it is possible to be in a shrub's contact zone without touching a visible shoot in the 3D environment. It is possible to be harmed by small shrubs that may be smaller than the ground cover.

Ground cover never has natural defenses that are a threat to people or animals.