Khor'vela

The khor'vela tree (also spelled khor'vala) has grey wood, its leaves broad and spadelike, with a shade of deep green that (in the words of the poet Willesc) "lights upon a carpet of grass only when lovers awaken in the soft stillness of dusk and each other's arms to view it." Is it any wonder that the khor'vela has been called The Mercy of Albreda; and a bed of leaves and branches taken from the tree (as the Gor'Tog males of Surlaenis do, in marriage/love gift to their brides) is termed Albreda's Bower?

A few notes about the khor'vela, as drawn from other literary and spoken sources:

It is mentioned in traditional poetry of Shard that the first bed of Sorril and Kanton was made from the khor'vela tree.

In many Halfling communities, to hang a sprig of the khor'vela over a house is to signal an approaching birth.

Among the Gor'Togs of Ratha, couples exchange a dried khor'vela leaf at their marriage ceremony. If either participant sends the leaf back to its owner, it signifies that the marriage is finished.

The great, anonymous epic of Marali'Tu comes to an abrupt and (to many people) unsatisfactory conclusion when King Uly'ta, on his 15-year long voyage home to his wife after the War of Wheeled Death, visits the lair of Serti, a notorious sorceress. She turns his sailors into peccaries and caracals, but drops all thoughts of vengeance when Uly'ta removes a twig of khor'vela from his breast and presents it to her. They settle down to a quiet life of magic, mutual affection and the herding of caracals, which is where the story curiously ends.

Other notes

Khor'vela is a carnivorous tree that often shows small bits of undigested bone within the wood.