The moonlight lily is a flower from Thessia, known for its biotic properties and place in folklore. They are native to Thessia's Tescani region, and require a degree of special care in differing environmental conditions, however their popularity has led to them being cultivated to some extent in virtually all asari settlements.
In common with many Thessian lifeforms, moonlight lilies actively employ the trace amounts of element zero present in the planet's ecosystem: the seed case uses weak receptive biotic fields to concentrate microtidal reflections within itself, which it uses to spread seeds via cyclic geolocation. The distinctive blue glow of the seed case is a byproduct of the concentration of pseudobiotic membranes within it. The flowers can grow in eezo-depleted conditions, but as their biotic properties are linked to their reproductive cycles, in such situations they are effectively sterile. Gardeners on worlds beyond Thessia use eezo-supplemented nutrient mixtures to provide the necessary conditions for proper growth; once the flower has passed its primary maturation stage, it can be transplanted into unaltered soil and water without any harmful effects.
The flower's place in folklore stems from these membranes' reactions to asari electrochemical neuroconductor fields. These fields in their passive state (when not being employed for melding), when fluctuating in accordance with an asari's emotional state, trigger a tidal reaction within the seed case, causing its glow to intensify. Harmonious emotions synchronise most effectively with the flowers, leading to the common belief that "love makes moonlight lilies shine".
Notes[]
The flower's original name was "Loria's Cradle"; since Thessia has no moon, the word "moonlight" was not commonly used for everyday phenomena in native dialects. The current name was originally applied by settlers who transplanted the flower to Epira, but has since spread back to Thessia and become the common name for the flower throughout asari space.