Along Raven-Lest's quays, salt spray and shallow soil favour different plants from those on sheltered hillsides. Old masonry offers yet another habitat. A plant does not remember residents merely because it grows on a House wall. Gardeners, gatherers, quarry workers and households pass on local knowledge, while the Archive may preserve disputes about what was observed without maintaining a universal botanical catalogue.
Seam Moss
In the damp joints of old mortar, seam moss follows shade and water. Builders sometimes trace its growth back toward a leaking gutter, although the same moss grows on ordinary walls and on living Houses. It grows where it can. A quay-side joke says the moss hears of a leaking roof before the owner does; what it really reveals is how long the repair has been put off.
Bitter Stairroot
On rocky terraces, the herb called bitter stairroot survives in cracks that defeat many garden plants. Its name refers to the root's grip beside worn steps, not to the part used in cooking. Gatherers choose the aromatic leaves by their shape and scent, taking care to distinguish them from bitter, potentially poisonous lookalikes whose appearance can deceive a novice even when the two plants grow only a few paces apart. A little is enough for broth. Soil and season alter the strength, so a cook who knows one hillside does not assume that a handful from another will taste the same.
Grey Lime Lichen
A pale crust on an old limewashed wall may be grey lime lichen. The name covers slow-growing crustose lichens that colonise exposed stone and plaster, especially where a surface has been left undisturbed. Masons sometimes compare a recent patch with the surrounding growth, though the comparison cannot give an exact age: light, moisture and earlier cleaning matter too. A doorway scrubbed yesterday may look older than one freshly limewashed last spring.