TIL albino redwoods may not actually be parasitic, but rather could share a mutualistic relationship with the neighbors they siphon off of.

Here’s how that hypothesis goes: https://twitter.com/britobrien_/status/1013256969992302592

First of all: redwoods are a tree that regularly shares resources via their root systems during the winter times. Sugars can be distributed along certain pathways in groves.

This has been indirectly observed by watching movement of a dye from one end of a RW grove to the other

White needles are known to take advantage of this, being referred to as vampiric redwood trees, but there’s more to it.

They would have to be siphoning resources year round to survive, which neighbors rarely tolerate in the Spring/Summer.

So what’s goin on?

The stomata (leaf/needle pores) of the white redwoods may not function properly causing them to lose water quickly. As a result they must pull water from the soil at higher rates their their green needle fam

You might also imagine that’s a burden to neighbors, right?

Well, these white needles are often observed in less that ideal soil conditions.

Now this is where things get interesting

After analyzing the tissue of the white vs the green needles it was found that WNs have as much as 2x the toxic metal saturation of GNs

We’re talking Nickel, Cadmium, and Copper in deadly concentrations.

The idea is that while yes, these white needles are siphoning resources off of their neighboring green needles, they may also be inadvertently be pulling accumulated toxic metals out of the soil to the benefit of the surrounding plants.

Given enough time a symbiotic relationship may have formed between them at the other redwoods.

Hopefully with more research this hypothesis will get hammered out and we’ll learn even more about these trees.

Lord. The typos.

One more incredibly important note: if you are so lucky enough to find one of these trees please don’t touch them and don’t tell anyone where you found em.

That is key to their survival.