I apologize for this topic post being a day late. Yesterday was still kinda chaotic from the 4th of July. All of that said, let's look at why authors who write fantasy and science fiction borrow plants from Earth in their stories instead of inventing entire ecosystems wholesale.
The simplest answer is familiarity. We are generally familiar with the types of plant life you can find on Earth in a given biome. In mild, temperate climates, we find trees like poplar and other deciduous varieties. In hotter, tropical climates, we find trees like the bunyan, palm, and related heat tolerant plants that require high humidity to thrive. Arid climes require different plants like succulents such as the famous Saguaro Cactus that can store water to survive between infrequent periods of precipitation.
Is it possible to invent an entire ecosystem for your story? Yes, and there are authors who have done it with mixed levels of success. It is, however, easier to limit the number of exotic species you invent and rename common ones for the region that your story takes place in if it is an Earth-like setting. It can be fun and exciting to give common plants new names but one must be careful not to go too far. It is important for the new names to be some how relevant to the plant's integral qualities or uses for your readers to maintain their suspension of disbelief.
There can only be so many kapow trees before your reader just glosses over it. If the plant life of your setting is important, you don't want your reader to gloss over that kapow tree just before an important scene where we learn why it's called that and how it relates to the characters. When dealing with plant life, describing them can be tricky but worth the effort when it illuminates their usefulness in the plot. At other times, just calling it by it's name is enough because the exotic name is a bit of color on the background scenery of the play that is happening on the page.
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