Goia

Hearty variety of green, striated berry with a smoothly scaled surface.

The interior is a yellowy vibrant green with a mango-like sweetness and an edible pit.

Grows from a slender and pliable tree that can reach heights of 10 to 50 feet. It is impossible to climb, but can be shaken or bent with rope to harvest fruit. Ripe fruit is prone to whip from tree to a great distance should it be released too early during roping harvest.

The tree itself is regularly planted to harvest for bark and the sap is used in a process of making elasticized materials. Bark is ground to powder and boiled in a process that creates a highly efficient glue which is combined with a grass based mixture.

The Goia is one of two species of plants highly relied upon for the production of parchment in Antheton.

Informal uses:
Many families in the countryside will plant these trees for personal use. In many cases, at least two will be planted at opposite ends of family land when a mother becomes pregnant. Goia saplings grow quickly, and will usually be a few feet high within less than a year. These specially planted trees are then given to children as they grow older and taught the responsibility of tending them. When both tree and child are old and strong enough, the child can literally play with the tree, and is encouraged to set targets at a distance and use the tree to spring weighted objects at it.

While this play sounds questionable, it teaches the child boundaries, safety precautions, how to calculate, patience and a number of other basic skills of play. A child that plays too roughly and damages the tree will often be punished by their own shame of damaging a gift, living creature, and lifelong symbol. Damaged trees must be tended, and the returned growth of this tree is often read by others as a sign of what events may come in the child’s future life, as damaging the tree in the first place is a sign of impatience or brash decision making.