My family and I went hiking in the redwoods near our home, and we came across a little redwood sapling with leaves that were... snow white. Seriously. At first I thought they were covered with mildew or someone had painted them, but they weren't! They were totally alive, they felt like, smelled like and otherwise were normal redwood leaves, except for being pure white. I never thought that live albino trees could exist, because the green clorophyll is essentially what keeps plants alive. So I researched a bit, and this is what I came up with:
With less than a two dozen (24) albino redwoods in existence, this rare white-colored redwood grows by tapping into the roots of a nearby redwood tree for sustenance. It lacks chlorophyll, the green substance that allows plants to convert sunlight into food, so its needles never turn green. Typical redwoods use sunlight so efficiently (3-4 times more than pines) that they can grow even in deep shade, and they usually grow beautiful green needles.
Because the Albino Redwood lacks chlorophyll which is needed for photosynthesis, they are dependent on a host Redwood tree for nutrients. Albino Redwoods are saprophytic, meaning it is a root parasite, receiving its nutrients from a host Redwood tree.
Here's a site.
These are the photos that I took:
You can see the redwood trunk to the left. The albino tree is growing from it, so this tree is likely the "host tree".
Here's a site.
These are the photos that I took:
You can see the redwood trunk to the left. The albino tree is growing from it, so this tree is likely the "host tree".
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