Balm Lily

Balm Lily is a farmable plant prized for its medical and ranching applications. Its flowers are the key ingredient used in the Apothecary to make Medical Packs, giving the plant direct value even if the colony has little use for the crop itself. Balm Lilies also provide a modest decor bonus of +15 in a 2-tile radius.

A Balm Lily can be planted in a Planter Box, Farm Tile, or Hydroponic Farm. A domesticated plant takes 12 cycles to grow, while a wild one takes 48 cycles. It requires a chlorine atmosphere, a temperature range of 35 °C to 85 °C, and air pressure between 150 g and 10 kg. Because it grows in chlorine, it is usually placed in controlled farming rooms rather than ordinary food farms.

Balm Lilies are especially useful in colonies that ranch Dreckos. Regular Dreckos can eat the plant, making it a maintenance-free food source once the proper atmosphere is established. Glossy Dreckos cannot eat Balm Lilies, so the crop is only useful for standard Drecko ranching. Since the plant itself does not require input resources once set up, it can be a very efficient long-term ranch crop.

The harvested flower is made of Genetic Ooze and has two important downstream uses:

• Inside the Apothecary, 1 Balm Lily Flower + 1 kg Phosphorite = 1 Medical Pack.
• In a Compost, 1 Balm Lily Flower = 1 kg Dirt.

This makes surplus flowers valuable even when no medical crafting is needed. Composting Balm Lily Flowers is a way to turn excess harvests into free dirt, and domesticated lilies generate about 166 g/cycle of dirt when their flowers are composted. Since the plant itself does not consume external inputs after setup, this can become a low-cost source of dirt for early farming and other colony needs.

In Spaced Out!, Balm Lilies can also be affected by the Licey mutation, which causes them to grow food for free.

One practical detail is that planting any seed into a Farm Tile disables the Locavore Achievement for the current colony. Simply constructing the tile does not affect it, but actually planting the seed does.