Nature & Environment
January 27, 2011 ·
19 comments
Image Credit: CC 3.0 Cole Shatto
Source: Discover Magazine | Comments (19)
The albino vampiric redwood tree
By T.K. RandallJanuary 27, 2011 ·
19 comments
Image Credit: CC 3.0 Cole Shatto
Animal albinism is considered quite unusual but plant albinism is something even stranger still.
Redwoods are generally huge, majestic trees heavily laden with greenery but there is a very rare form of Redwood that is everwhite instead of evergreen. It's not the pale white colouring we associate with vampires yet it acts like one, sucking the life from its parent. These trees are super creepy because they lack the essential "ingredient" that makes them a tree: chlorophyll. Only 25 exist in the world and 8 are found in Henry Cowell State Park in California.The redwood is a genetic mixing barrel–with six sets of chromosomes, the species can mix and match, experimenting with different combinations and allowing quick adaptations to fight off fungus and viruses that could otherwise decimate the population. Albinism just seems to be one of the more evolutionarily unsuccessful experiments these trees have performed, though they keep coming back, park docent Dave Kuty explained.
Source: Discover Magazine | Comments (19)
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