Everyone knows the Dragonfly. It's on our sports jerseys, it's what our national teams are nicknamed, it's the shorthand symbol that most people abroad use to refer to us. That's not to say it's the only symbol of the country, and this time we want to point out something that goes perfectly with insects: flowers.
The aster Lusihtenis is a fairly small, unassuming flower that is native to Ko-oren. It is also very hardy and can survive nearly everywhere, and it's this property that has made it a thing. Places across the country have long used flowery symbols, usually the huge, beautiful ones that are specific to one area, but weren't ever to be accepted as a national icon. That is until botanist Alakari Lusihten from Iduloren pointed out that, across the archipelago, it's actually one and the same species. That's something that couldn't be proven until about two centuries ago, and looking at how differently the flower looks in various places, it's not something that people suspected either.
Since then, it's made it onto the government logo, with a yellow sun, a green dragonfly, and - there it is - a blue aster Lusihtenis.
It's also been turned into logos for regions, such as here, where the logo changes colour based on the local variety. Known across the mainland as the ladau, its default mainland shape - four big, round petals - is chosen as the template for all, but you'll see quite a few differences aside from colour. Depending on the soil, it takes on different colours, its northeastern varieties have smaller, pointier petals, while the eastern island varieties have multiple massive, bright layers. Mostly - or at least around the bay - it's a faint blue around a yellow centre. With the green leaves and stem you can easily see our national colours.
Given its hardiness, it's one of few flowers to spread all the way to the northeast at all, and it's one of the few bright spots of west coast flora as well. But that it's one and the same thing, wasn't clear until Alakari Lusihten (after whom the flower was obviously named) brought over methodologies from abroad. She went on to describe over two hundred flowers and plants, many native to the archipelago, and has earned her place among some of the greatest Ko-orenite academics, and you'll often find a room, a wing, or even a building on many campuses named for her - usually somewhere around the biology department, and she's also given her name to parks and gardens. Alakari was never one for the classroom, and despite formally being a professor at several universities, she has never led courses outside of a guest lecture here and there.
