Sulfurian Balloon Plant

The Sulfurian Balloon Plant is a vegetable species native to the planet Sulfuria: a world with a large concentration of sulfur, similar to Jupiter's moon Io; and a thick atmosphere filled with gases that would be considered noxious for Humans.

Biology
Sulfurian Balloon Plants gain energy from sunlight, like most plants. Their self-generated gas-filled bladders float in the upper layers of the atmosphere while anchored to the planet's surface by extremely long stalks, which can grow up to thousands of kilometers in length.

These Balloons grow close to each other, creating environments comparable to the kelp forests of Earth's oceans. When they touch each other, they can exchange genetic material and reproduce by budding. The newborn individuals are grown on the edges of their parent's gas chambers, and when their stalks are developed enough to anchor them to the ground below, they separate from their parents and start living on their own.

The Parachute Worms from Sulfuria migrate along the long stalks of the Balloon Plants throughout their life cycle, to extract oxygen from their gas chambers and nutrients from their roots.

Appearances

 * Natural History of an Alien, a.k.a. Anatomy of an Alien (1998)