Albino redwoods, you ask? They are redwoods that have a genetic mutation that means they don't have any chlorophyll. What they do have are roots that can grab onto a neighboring redwood and parasitically absorb nutrients that way. Not a very efficient feeding mechanism, so they don't usually get very big, but it is interesting to see a mass of white redwood sprouts growing near the base of another tree.
The needle shape and habit are different too -- wide flat needles that sometimes curl up on themselves.
Almost a snowflake!
Sometimes there are normal sprouts mixed in with the white ones.
It was raining slightly, and Nim decided to be a small woodland creature.
Spiderwebs accumulated not only water droplets, but entire water films.
On our way out, we wandered around in the mud to find a second albino redwood mass; this one sprouted out of a normal redwood partway up the trunk. Apparently there is some sort of virus that leads to the mid-trunk sprouting. It's gotta be pretty rare to get this combination of the virus and the genetic mutation together!
1 comment:
We have an albino redwood at Henry Cowell, too. The drought hasn't been kind to it.
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