Pern had a wide variety of plant life, but when the colonists came, they also brought their own food. Here are some of the various plants on Pern. It should be noted that most of the native plants grow bigger and therefore, more useful, in the southern continent.
Native Plantlife
- Fellis trees grow in both the northern and southern continents. A special juice can be made from fellis trees, which is used as a soporific drug.
- Ging trees grow near Ista and can be used as improvised forest bedding. Moreta described the ging forrest in the fall as "a green face with a thousand black-rimmed eyes." The fronds make handy needlethorn packages, as the sap from the cut edges of leaves forms its own glue. Leaf sap will also seal puncture wounds. Needlethorn is always found in the presence of ging trees.
- Klah trees are an important part of the pernese lifestyle. The bark of the klah tree can be ground to make a drink, described by the EEC team as like coffee, with a faint flavour of cinnamon and with an aftertaste of chocolate.
- Needlethorns are bushes that, as their name suggests, have sharp thorns. These thorns are used as hypodermic needles in medicine. Needlethorns grow in lush, tropical rainforests.
- Numbweed is a bush that grows in large clumps. The plant is used to make a gel that deadens the pain of small wounds completely, and dulls large wounds. The downside is that it takes three days to make numbweed, and this is a very smelly process. Numbweed trees could be found on both the Northern and Southern continents, but, as with most Pernese plants, grew to a much larger size in the south.
- The Redfruit tree is a tree that bears a delicious red fruit which is good for quenching thirst. It likes a tropical climate so can be found in abundance in the Southern continent. In the north, it is limitied to the few tropical regions such as Nerat.
- Sticklebush is a fruit-bearing plant that has sharp, hairlike thorns. Which are hard to see in the spring while the sap is rising, this sap can harm humans. Berries are harvested in the Autumn and made into jam.
- Withies are an aquatic reed found in the rivers of the Northern Continent.
Imported Plantlife
- Ash Tree was imported to Pern and is found in hills and mountanous regeions. The bark is used medicinaly as a diuretic and febriguge. - Seen in Dragonlovers Guide to Pern
- Garlic,[1] first made its appearance on Pern in the novel, Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern named use Dragonheart.
- Grapes form the basis of the famous Benden wines, also found growing wild Far Western Continent (Sky Dragons)
- Hazel, or most likely witch hazel. It is a large shrub with smooth brown bark, fragrant winter flowers, and woodsy fruit capsules. A distillation from the leaves and flower-bearing twigs is used in skin products for its disinfectant and astringent properties. It is used on chapped and sunburned skin, bruises, swelling, rashes, to stop bleeding, and to reduce varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Its seeds are edible and can be brewed for a warming tea.
- Onions
- Coconut aka Nut Fruit