Mystery of the Albino Redwoods

KQED's QUEST looks at the ultra-rare albino redwood trees: "Only a few dozen albino redwood trees are known to exist. They are genetic mutants that lack the chlorophyll needed for photosynthesis. But how and why they survive is a scientific mystery." Albino Redwoods, Ghosts of the Forest

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Anonymous

Albino redwood
Tree, you are such a mystery
Motherly love I see
Anonymous

I have one of these growing in my yard. I didn’t know they were so unique. Hahaha.
Anonymous

“But how and why they[albino redwoods] survive is a scientific mystery”

Wasn’t this explained in the video? They get their nourishment from the parasitic bond with the mother tree.

Am I missing something here?
Spoon

Very cool Dave!
cyberscythe

re: supnah, according to my internetting, it looks like you’re right about the interlocking roots idea. The albinos are basically parasites.

Ref:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/11/SPK4SI0PM.DTL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens#Statistics

These unusual redwoods weave their root systems into that of other redwoods and tap into their food supply. They cannot provide their own food since they lack chlorophyll that converts sunlight and water into food, but they have adapted to take what they need from other redwoods. That is why they are always found growing next to a host. Other trees, such as an apple tree, on the other hand, do not have the ability to interlink their root systems with others.

I’m kind of put off by the term “scientific mystery”. Especially in this case, where there is a valid scientific explanation, but apparently it wasn’t “mysterious” enough that ghost trees are sapping the life out of other trees.
Anonymous

There’s a book by John Vaillant about the deliberate destruction of a similarly-pigment-deficient mutated spruce tree in Haida Gwaii (aka the Queen Charlotte Islands, off the coast of British Columbia) called “The Golden Spruce”. It’s a strange but interesting story and I recommend the book to any who are interested in the Pacific Northwest.
lewisfrancis

What mystery, they’re clearly vampires.
Anonymous

This video seems to want to buffer, even if I don’t click on anything. Just by viewing the front page, I’ve downloaded several dozen megabytes of data I don’t want. If I was on my cell phone, that might have cost me fifty bucks.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  This video seems to want to buffer, even if I don’t click on anything.
  
  It’s not doing that for me.
- codesuidae
  
  I’m having the opposite problem with buffering, can’t seem to get the HD version to play smoothing, but it won’t buffer while I’ve got it paused :p
Anonymous

Henry Cowell State Park is in Felton, CA not Fulton.
Antinous / Moderator

So rare that you’d have to go all the way to Golden Gate Park to see one. Redwoods send up lots of suckers from the base, and albino ones aren’t uncommon. They survive because they share the root system of the mother tree.
- Freddie Freelance
  
  Antinous & supnah have it right; shared support via the root system allows them to survive.
supnah

I know that redwoods and sequoias interlock their root systems for structural support – they have very shallow root systems that would not be as stable otherwise. From what I understand they create matts of interlocking roots, leading to a much larger aggregate root system that is better at supporting individual trees.

Perhaps these mutants !!! are able to tap into the nutrition from other trees’ roots in the network and essentially leach off the rest of the trees in the area? Interesting. Hope someone with more information can chime in.
- supnah
  
  I guess what I mean is – how big are the biggest of these guys and can they get mature enough to drop cones?
Noodle

Good one!
David Pescovitz

That’s because I change the embed from KQED to YouTube.
Anonymous

See an albino Redwood at Fernwood Resort in Big Sur. While you are there be sure to catch a great band on Saturday nights. http://www.fernwoodbigsur.com/albino.html
Anonymous

Chlorophyll? More like BOREophyll!
Anonymous

Ha! Stumbled across one at work one day. Totally blew away the guy I was with, and he knows of three or four. Quite the find.