Syren plant

A Syren plant

The carnivorous syren plants were native to the planet Kashyyyk. They could be found in the dangerous jungles of the planet's surface, far below the canopy level where the Wookiees dwelled.

A syren plant could be identified by its two ovular, bright yellow petals that were divided in half. The petals were mounted on an extremely thick, mottled, blood-red stalk. In the middle of the petals was a tuft of glossy white fibers. To many casual observers, the plant might have seemed little more than a giant, beautiful, oversized flower.

Lowbacca with his syren fiber belt

The tuft of syren fibers within the plant emitted a large number of pheromones, which could lure unsuspecting prey. If a creature was lured within proximity of the yellow petals, it was unlikely to survive. Touching the blood-red inner flesh of a syren plant's petals would cause it to reflexively close in one swift powerful movement. The prey, now trapped by the plant's powerful and sticky petals, would be painfully digested alive.

As a rite of passage, many young Wookiees would attempt to harvest the plant's syren fibers at the Well of the Dead. A young Wookiee would typically bring a few strong friends to hold the powerful petals in place while he attempted to harvest the fibers as quickly as possible. Thereafter, he wear the syren fibers as a symbol of virility and bravery. Despite the help from comrades, some young Wookiees lost limbs to the plant. Before he attended Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum, Lowbacca managed to harvest the syren fibers by himself, while hanging from a rope above an open plant. While the plant's reflexes were unwittingly triggered by a stray end of rope falling and brushing one of the petals, Lowbacca sensed it immediately and managed to pull himself clear from the petals' range before it closed. Returning home, he wove the fibers into a belt.

The Besadii Hutt crime lord Gardulla kept syren plants in her luxurious and notorious pleasure garden within her Tatooine palace near the Dune Sea.

Behind the scenes

An unidentified spice appeared in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts, prior to its closure on December 15, 2011. This spice was one of the central elements of the "Secrets of the Syren" story arc, introduced upon the release of the "Publish 14," on March 9, 2005. In the cut fifth chapter of "Secrets of the Syren", it should have been revealed that the spice was extracted from the roots of syren plants.

Appearances

• Episode I Adventures 7: Capture Arawynne (Game Book)
• "What They Called Me" — Star Wars Tales 5
• "What They Called Me" — Star Wars Gamer 4
• Star Wars Galaxies: Starter Kit (Mentioned only) (Cut)
• Tatooine Ghost (Mentioned only)
• Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force (First appearance) (In flashback(s))
• Young Jedi Knights: Shadow Academy (Mentioned only)
• Young Jedi Knights: Lightsabers (Mentioned only)
• Young Jedi Knights: Darkest Knight
• Young Jedi Knights: Diversity Alliance
• Young Jedi Knights: Return to Ord Mantell (Mentioned only)
• Young Jedi Knights: Crisis at Crystal Reef
• The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
• The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey (Mentioned only)

Sources

• The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons
• Star Wars: Behind the Magic
• "Secrets of Kashyyyk" — Star Wars Gamer 4
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 42 (KAS4, Kashyyyk)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

Notes and references

In other languages

• Deutsch