Plant
Plant is static green growth that slowly turns touching water into more plant and burns faster than wood.
- Movement
- Solid — stays where you paint it
- Weight
- 6 / 9 (heavier sinks through lighter)
- Lifetime
- Permanent
- Glow
- None
Plant does not fall or flow. What sets it apart from wood is that it expands: whenever water touches a plant cell, the water cell becomes plant on 2 percent of checks. The rate is low, so growth shows up as a gradual creep rather than a burst, and it stops the moment no water is left in contact.
Growth follows water, not light or soil. A green patch at the edge of a pool spreads into the pool, while a patch on dry sand stays exactly as painted. Each converted cell is itself static, so once the surrounding water drains away the plant can be left hanging in mid-air, a green sponge shaped like the water that fed it.
Plant is also the most flammable solid. Its own table catches fire at 35 percent per check and the fire’s table adds 30 percent, two to three times the figures for wood. Lava lights it at 60 percent. A burning thicket empties far sooner than a wooden block of the same size.
Acid has no entry for plant at all. That is a simplification, since real acids damage leaves and stems readily, but in the sandbox a green lining is one of the few non-wall surfaces an acid pool will sit against without eating.
Real plants do not literally turn water into leaves; they draw up water and carbon dioxide over days. Sandlab compresses that into a one-step swap so that growth is visible within a single session.
Try it yourself
- Overgrow a pond. Paint a wall bowl, fill it with water, and set a short line of plant along one side of the surface. The green advances into the pool bit by bit; leave it running and most of the water ends up as plant.
- Thicket against timber. Paint equal blocks of plant and wood with a wide gap between them and put a dab of fire on each. The plant block is consumed while the wooden one is still smouldering through its middle.
- Green cup, sour contents. Shape a small cup out of plant and fill it with acid. The acid sits in the cup without harming it. Replace one side of the cup with wood and the acid tunnels out through that side alone.
Reactions
Odds are per contact check: each tick, touching cells inside the same two-by-two block are checked against the reaction table, so even a small chance happens soon after contact.
When plant touches something
- Touching Fire: turns into Fire. (fast, 35% per contact check) →
- Touching Water: turns the Water into Plant. (very slow, 2% per contact check) →
When something touches plant
- Touching Lava: this Plant turns into Fire. (fast, 60% per contact check) →
- Touching Fire: this Plant turns into Fire. (fast, 30% per contact check) →
Tip
Keeping a hedge wet helps it survive a fire: a flame that touches water usually turns into steam before it can reach the green behind it.