Money trees

Money trees are the main inhabitants of moneytreelantis. The most famous are Arnold the unusual and Arnold's children.

Life cycle
Money trees go through several forms.

Fruit
Money trees begin life as fruits. They grow on another money tree for 3 weeks, then fall. They can be eaten until they fall off the tree, but money trees are fiercely protective of their young. The fruits sit at the foot of the tree for a further two weeks, before opening.

Midgets
A midget grows inside the fruit. Midgets are small creatures, usually white, with short arms and legs. They are fiercely territorial to all except their parents, members of the same batch as them, and especial friends. One money tree, Sinilmojightcium, invented a catapult, and his descendants use them to launch midgets at enemies, in a process dubbed "angry midgets". Sinilmojightcium himself was chopped down. After six months, they plant themselves.

Trees
It takes six months for a fully grown money tree to mature. At that time, they begin producing fruits, in a process called "gildeniozation". There is a set pattern for gildeniozing, which occurs every 6 months (usually December and June). The money trees first gildenioze 9 fruits, then 81, then 729. They then lie dormant for two years, then produce 43, then 269, then 721. They stop gildeniozing for 50 years, then produce one a decade for 150 years, followed by a 295 year dormancy. They then reawaken and produce one fruit every gildeniozing period for the rest of their lives (unconfirmed, the oldest known money tree, Shivdenmur, is 738, and simulations suggest that gildeniozing rates pick up when the money tree is 826). On average, wild money trees live to 100, but domesticated ones, like Arnold the unusual, live to an average age of 500, not worrying about predators. Money trees retain the ability to communicate telepathically, except for when dormant.