Trees, like animals, can also experience albinism, though it is extremely rare.
the reason it’s rare is because without chlorophyll, the plant can’t get energy, and dies shortly after sprouting unless it has some other source of food. so if you see a plant as big as the one in the picture that doesn’t have any green in its leaves, it’s getting its nutrition from the roots of a neighboring plant of the same species, feeding on the sugars created by the other plant’s photosynthesis.
albino plants are basically vampires.
For a long time, scientists thought they were parasites, and couldn’t figure out why the bigger plants didn’t release chemicals to kill them.
Turns out, the lil’ ghost redwoods benefit their hosts by filtering toxins and acting as a sort of backup immune system.
They’re vampires, and they’re commensal, symbiotic mutualists!
this is super cool! I had no idea
This is among the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
we’ve already discovered forests where trees share nutrients with young or disadvantaged trees and forests where trees can ask their neighbors for some extra food (they literally send a signal requesting aid, via the web of fungus that connects their roots) and forests where surrounding tees will keep a tree alive even when it has been reduced to a stump through some tragedy…
so, while i love the playfulness of “vampire” and i commend the specificity of “commensal, symbiotic mutualists” i think it’s worth considering, at this point, if “member of the community” might not be at least as apt
Now I want a mythos where vampires are seen as commonplace heroes because they’re walking dialysis machines
Me, two glasses of wine in: “yeah so here’s an in depth conversation about my identity as a nonbinary person, and my struggles with transphobia in 2023”
Median Center-Right American Dude at the party, also two drinks in: “Damn that’s crazy, I never thought of it like that. Man, I’m sorry you gotta deal with this shit.”
Me: “Ahh it’s alright. I deal.”
Random Guy: “People should just chill tf out.”
Me: “Damn right”
Random Guy: “So if you’re non binary, and, sorry if this is offensive but I don’t know the right words here. Like, is it cross dressing for you if you wear a skirt?”
Me: “Its- hm. Huh. I have no idea.”
Guy: “It must have been nice to go to school with other trans people. Like, you must’ve felt safe.”
Me: “No actually it was the opposite. It just made me even more upset and confused. I didn’t know what being non-binary was. I saw people that transitioned from one gender to the other and knew I wasn’t that. It took me a long time to figure this shit out.”
Guy: “man that sounds rough. No wonder you guys are upset all this time this sounds painful.”
Me: “Well, it sucks until it suddenly doesn’t. It sucks and then it rules hard.”
Guy: “so It’s like working out.”
Me: [both of us are now nodding wisely] “it’s like working out.”
Guy who has only ever played undertale seeing a skeleton for the first time: “holy shit”
im so in love with this post one time i got really really high and decided since i dont have a printer that i was going to paint it and hang it up on my wall
there’s only 7 words on the painting and you managed to misspell the two largest ones
“The average US president has been charged with 1.54 felonies” factoid isn’t true. The average US President has been charged with 0 felonies. Donald trump, who has been charged with 71, is a statistical outlier and should not have been counted
Felonies Donld is now up to 79 felonies, for a statistical average of 1.71 felonies per president
Update:
With 91 felonies, felonies Donld has now broken the 2 felonies per president average average (2.02 felonies per president)
when i was a toddler i thought god was an imperceivable web of white pulsing membranes stretched over itself a million times and i thought he lived inside the wooden pulpit at my church
