Occasionally, my wife and I go off on worldbuilding tangents that result in new fictitious species. This has previously resulted in the ghost plum and the spider peacock. Another time, someone’s Reddit handle inspired discussion of the floating ghost carrot.

Well, it’s not really a carrot. Nor does it float. It’s actually a subspecies of ginseng that can temporarily activate latent telekinetic powers.

The problem is that while a lot of people would like to have latent telekinetic powers, very few actually do. Because some of the interested-but-without are wealthy, powerful, and unscrupulous (but I repeat myself), this has resulted in a significant off-the-books genetic research project to identify the source of latent telekinesis. The results have been… questionable science, at best. And some of those results point to specific organs as the source of said latent telekinesis. Which has, in turn, resulted in a growing black market trade in organs stolen from latent telekinetic persons for transplant.

From a tangent during character development for an old duet Shadowrun game:

The ghost plum is an Awakened variety of Prunus mume (Chinese plum) found mainly in China’s Yunnan region. The tree is similar to its unAwakened parent, but the fruit is an exceptionally pale lavender.

If consumed raw by an unAwakened metahuman, the fruit has a chance to bestow temporary and unpredictable astral sight. This phenomenon is more common in areas with high background counts related to large-scale or traumatic deaths. Awakened characters are largely unaffected, though a few report difficulty casting health spells. Statistical evidence suggests that frequent consumption may make subjects more susceptible to HMHVV.

Ghost plum is more commonly distilled into liquor. The resulting ghost plum wine provides a more predictable effect, less prone to “bad trips” – albeit with a greater statistical correlation to HMHVV infection rates. It is popular in death-fixated youth cultures around the Pacific Rim. It’s also a ritual component for practices related to several death-aligned totem spirits.