On the subject of plants.

 

I find myself on playgrounds as the weather warms, accompanied by my 2 1/2 year old future gamer.  This is the lawn outside an early-spring playground which lies behind an elementary school.  As the spring plants come to the surface, they are met with daily brutal abuse at the hands of hyperactive grade school children and their sports equipment.  What remains after years of this environment, I'm convinced, are some of the hardiest plants that can survive until summer break.

My mind ventures to 40k, of course, because sometimes I think of eternal war.  How long could a land-war last?  What kind of plants would survive if there was a battlefield in a lengthy theater?  

I'm thinking what would grow, if it could, would be similar to these plants.  Grasses, dandelion, plantain.  

In the  case of the quack-grasses, runners of roots that spread out so numerous that only shearing off the top five inches of soil like a veneer could remove them.  The roots stay close to the surface, ready to send out fragile blades to capture a few moments of sunlight before being obliterated again.

Dandelions, plants that send down deep tap-roots that suck nutrients that the grasses cannot reach, and flowers that produce seed even if they are beheaded before fully forming.  

Plantain, more pliable and resilient to damage, producing 20,000 seeds after being wind pollinated.  The veins of its leaves could resemble fishing lines.

False Hope, this is your ground-cover.