SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A woody vine, Boquila trifoliolata, has been discovered in Chile that has the amazing ability to change the shape of its leaves depending on what tree it is climbing. Further, the same single vine can drape different species of tree, and it will match the shape and size of its leaves to those of each host, but only along that portion of its length.
Other vines are known to mimic one species of host, as a defense against herbivores, but this vine can mimic many, along its length. Biologists say "It is unclear how B. trifoliolata vines discern the identity of individual trees and shape-shift accordingly." Speculation is that chemicals or microbes might trigger gene-activating signals that trigger leaf differentiation. But left unsaid is how the vine would "learn" how to match the shape of its new host's leaf, how it would know it had succeeded, where it would acquire the genes to do so, and how many different trees it can mimic.
Wouldn't you need eyes to do that?
(Score: 1) by Immerman on Thursday May 01 2014, @05:15AM
Nope, though I do remember the scene with the little plants at home and at the library, I don't believe there was any plant-shredding going on in the Wrinkle books. My source was something older I think, and a fair bit more practical... "Paranormal Research Beyond the Iron Curtain" or something like that - chock full of oddities and the procedures by which you could duplicate them. I don't believe I ever attempted the plant-related ones, lacking a lie detector to detect the reaction, but I was able to recreate enough of the others to leave me credulous.