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!
We have an albino redwood at Henry Cowell, too. The drought hasn't been kind to it.
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