Let me introduce you to an idea I've had since I asked the question: the Korabloom. This is a flower that grows on graves. ("Graves", for this purpose, inlcudes not only burials within the earth, but also the sites of funeral pyres, and the ground underneath the tree where a body was hung for the winds to take). It flowers at any time of the year, as long as the person whose grave this is is still remembered. (Yep: magic.) The colour varies, but flowers on the grave of a person who died violently are often red. It has two large fragile-looking petals on a long slender stem. Any resemblance to the Flanders Poppy is strictly intentional.
People who have recently lost a friend or relative often wear a Korabloom from their grave. The flower will stay fresh as long as genuine grief is felt by the wearer: picking Korablooms every day is a sign of hypocrisy. The Lunars have actually introduced artifical, silk Korablooms as a fashion accessory (they say they're "remembering those who died for the Empire" or some such rubbish): this is seen as the height of bad taste by others!
Not all choose to wear Korablooms, of course: there are other signs of grief that can be more appropriate. (If you ever see a Humakti wearing a Korabloom wreath, especially if it's red: stay away!)
Magical powers, game-usefulness etc: absolutely none whatsoever. It's sacred to the Ty Kora Tek cult, obviously, and apparently they use the flowers for *something*, but no-one outside the cult knows what.
Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.ukhttp://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/index.shtml
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