The Phantoms of the Forest: Vampire Redwoods!

The great Redwood tree. Tall, hearty, majestic, mighty, these are all apt descriptors, and there are many more. But the Redwood is a dying breed, and not because it can’t stand up to the tests of the world, quite the contrary really, the Redwood is brutally tough. We’re the ones (as usual) that killed them all off.

With less than 1.5 million acres left in the world, these trees need our protection, now more than ever, because it seems a strange abnormality in these trees has been under scrutiny as of late. The albino and chimera mutations that occur in some of these trees is a marvel to botanists and phytology enthusiasts the world over (myself included. Yay tree nerds!)

Before we get too far along I want to clarify something. When I say 1.5 million acres that sounds like a lot, but when you take into consideration that the Earth is 36,819,200,000 (yes that’s 36 billion) acres, 1,500,000 acres is kind of small potatoes. That’s similar to the scale equivalent of shoving the Redwoods off to a single prison cell. Considering the tallest one is over 350 feet in height, that’s not cool.

We’ve talked about some monster trees before (Cosmic Radiation + 1,250 Year Old Cherry Tree = ???) but today we’re going deeper into the woods to see if we can’t solve a peculiar little mystery. Like just how in the heck do you get an albino tree?

Today at TI&IT we’re going to talk briefly about some of the cool aspects of Redwood trees and some of the parks that protect them. We’re also going to discuss a little bit about albinism as it relates to humans. Finally we’re going to talk about these bizarre arboreal oddities that, like Methuselah, have hidden coordinates to protect it from vandalism.

But first and foremost the question you’re all probably asking.

“Now…when you say vampire…?”

Nosfera-tree

The leaves of the albino redwood look almost plastic, but they’re very, very real. The problem with them is, while they’re beautiful, they lack a very important ingredient that is essential to the life of every plant on this planet. The ability to produce chlorophyll. This is how the plant produces energy.

These trees don’t produce chlorophyll effectively, thereby making it impossible to get energy. Therefore they have to vampirize their neighbors. (“I vant to suck your sap! Bwah!”) We’ll dig deeper into that in a bit. Let’s take a quick biology lesson first.

Plants are actually quite remarkable. Think of them in terms of humans. (This will come in handy later in the article.) In order for humans and other animals to function we have to produce energy of some kind. Plants are no different in that regard. In order for them to survive they have to be able to produce energy of their own. So if plants and trees are like us, we can think of smaller plants like ferns and flowers as in respect to animals and insects, and we can think of trees as people, comparing their more complex systems to our own.

A dandelion, while it operates on the same sort of principles as trees, has things a little easier. A tree sometimes has to pump nutrients from the soil hundreds of feet up into the air to get them to its leaves. A dandelion is much closer to the ground so it needs a less complex physiology in order to accomplish this same task.

Trees have a series of transporters built into their biology that function much in the same way our circulatory system does. Using what’s known as Xylem and Phloem they are able to provide their leaves with the nutrients and water they need to stimulate the photosynthetic process. Xylem essentially functions like veins, taking raw nutrients and water to the leaves to be cycled through photosynthesis and converted into sucrose and glucose (sugars) and carried to the rest of the plant. The structure that takes the nutrient rich sap, or blood if we think like humans, is called Phloem. Phloem works like our arteries which carry oxygen rich blood to our extremities for our muscles and other organs to function properly.

Xylem and Phloem can be visible if a cross section of a tree is taken.

Xylem is represented in the trees growth rings. The inner rings closest to the heartwood or Pith are the functioning Xylem. As the tree grows the rings extend toward the outer layers, this Xylem dies off and becomes non-functioning as new Xylem forms. It isn’t useless at this stage however, not only does it tell scientists how old a tree is it still stores vital nutrients for the rest of the tree. Think of old Xylem like fat in people.

Phloem on the other hand is the innermost layer of the bark. The bark is like our skin, protecting the tree from the elements, predation, and disease. While Xylem is mostly comprised of dead tissues and cells, Phloem is very much alive. It transports the glucose to the roots or bulbs for storage and can move in any direction throughout the tree provided it’s structurally feasible. Xylem is unidirectional, meaning it can only flow upward.

*Whew!*

So now we know why they need photosynthesis, how does it work? It’s pretty cool actually. The plant takes in light through small vascular openings kind of like capillaries on the leaves called Chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are responsible for producing Chlorophyll, which is a key ingredient in converting raw nutrients and water into sap. It also produces the trees pigmentation.

The spectrum of light is basically the Rainbow. (ROY G. BIV. Remember him?) Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. For one reason or another, the only colors of light in the spectrum that plants seem to have use for are the ones on the far left and right of the green, the blues and the reds. Green isn’t taken in, that’s why most plants appear green, they reflect the color of light they don’t have in them.

Chlorophyll works like Melanin in people. It’s the factor that determines the pigmentation of the plant. Depending on what the plant pulls in from the light spectrum to use photosynthesis, it could range from light green, to reds and yellows, even pink and black leaves have been noted.

So what happens when the plant can’t utilize the light spectrum for pigmentation let alone photosynthesis? You end up with something called albinism.

Albino Is The New Green

Albinism, or Achromia can strike anyone. It doesn’t matter what your racial background is. It doesn’t care if your family’s rich or poor, old or young, skinny or fat, it’s a recessive gene. If it’s in your bloodline, being born just becomes a crap shoot. But what causes the disorder?

A lack of the pigment melanin. The body is unable to produce the enzyme Tyrosinase. This enzyme is copper containing and is directly responsible for the production of melanin. Without this enzyme melanin cannot form within the skin, leaving the afflicted with a ghostly pale appearance in the skin, hair, and eyes.

It isn’t just color that’s affected by this disorder in humans and animals. Vision can be affected as well. The eyes are highly dependent on melanin in order to function properly. In fact, melanin is what gives eyes their wide variations in color. The more melanin someone has in their eyes the darker the colors will be, presenting with usually a brown or black iris. The less melanin they have the lighter the color will be, i.e. blue or green eyes.

Melanin protects the skin from harmful U.V. radiation by altering the pigmentation to block excess rays that cause damaging effects. (This is why there is such a wide array of skin color pending geographic location. Race is really just an arbitrary term.) This same phenomena applies to the eyes. People with darker eye color are less sensitive to light than those of us with blue eyes.

In those who suffer from albinism, since they lack the protective melanin, their eyes are far more susceptible to the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation. It can cause eyes to cross, retinal failure, or worse yet, photophobia. This is not to be confused with heliophobia which is a goofy morbid fear of light. Photophobia isn’t a fear but rather a physical discomfort or pain caused by the exposure of light. In short, Heliophobics are sissies, photophobics can’t help it, it hurts.

Fortunately for humans, we don’t photosynthesize our energy through the pores of our skin. Plants on the other hand aren’t so fortunate.

So now we know that albino humans can’t produce melanin and albino plants can’t produce chloroplasts. We know that this has damaging effects on the bodies of humans and this prevents plants from undergoing photosynthesis. Humans with albinism can still eat and drink to produce energy, but how do plants do it?

For that we have to get a little help from classic horror.

Vampires.

The Roots of All Evil

Alright, so vampire trees may be a little bit misleading. They actually don’t uproot themselves at night stalking the forest in search of stamens to bite. They’re vampiristic actions are far more subtle than that. It all takes place away from the prying eyes of humans. Right beneath our feet.

As we know they can’t produce chlorophyll, which means they can’t stimulate photosynthesis, so how do they get food? Well luckily albino redwoods still have roots. They intertwine these roots with those of what’s called “The Parent Tree” in order to suckle nutrients from it.

What’s more incredible is that albino redwoods don’t appear to be growths unto themselves but rather branches from said parent tree. They don’t grow as trees so much as have the appearance of shrubs and bushes. Take a look at the example below.

Researchers have no idea why these redwoods sprout these genetic mutations. Some conclude it’s an abnormality in the genetic structure of the redwood. Genetically, redwoods are what’s known as a hexaploid meaning they have 66 chromosomes. Humans by contrast are diploids only containing 23. With 43 more chromosomes than us, coupled with the fact that some of the oldest redwoods alive today date back to the Roman Empire, this allows for a lot of variables that could result in this genetic mutation.

What’s even more incredible is that some of these albino redwoods present as chimeric, meaning they have both white and green leaves. This means that to some extent these chimera albino redwoods are capable of producing chlorophyll and therefore living on their own, however they are still more fragile than their full sapped redwood counterparts.

Chimera redwoods are much rarer than their preciously numbered counterparts. Not only that, they’re gold mines for researchers studying these trees and their genetic composition. Since it contains both the green and the white needles on the same tree it gives them the opportunity to study how the healthy tree operates in tandem with the albino tree. They are strange to say the least.

What’s even stranger is that during times of necessity, the parent tree can cut off the sugar supply to the albino mutation, effectively killing it. But the plant does not completely die. Redwood forests are extremely complicated in their ecology. The root systems can span for miles, entangling with the systems of neighboring trees, forming one gigantic networked forest. This can strengthen the trees from high winds, floods, droughts, you name it. Now that’s a support group.

The parasitic root system of the albino redwood is no different in this respect. While the part of the plant above the ground withers and dies, the roots are unaffected. This is how this arboreal apparition seems to disappear one season and reappear another in the same spot.

Some scientists have linked this genetic mutation to times of great stress and that hypothetically this could be some sort of coping mechanism. On top of that the increased number of chromosomes allows for a number of other possible genetic mutations, so in a sense, they could be looking for anything.

Not much is known about these trees, including their exact number. Reports range anywhere from 10 to over 500. The official number typically agreed upon is around 50. They were discovered in 1866, and first published about in the California Academy of Sciences Proceedings in 1866. Some published articles include elusions to their use in sacred Native American rituals and spiritual rituals. I could not track down a verifiable source of this information so I will only include the above sentence with the following, I have not verified the truth of these accounts, if someone has verification please feel free to leave it in the comments section. I will be more than happy to paw through it.

These mysterious trees will continue to fascinate us until we figure out exactly what it is that makes them tick. Perhaps the albino redwood is a disease, an abnormal growth that the parent plant has no control over. Perhaps it’s a way for the tree to deal with environmental stressors. Or perhaps (and this is my personal theory) it’s a way to store excess sugars for the host trees or other trees on the “network” and is consumed before a drought or other disaster strikes because the tree knows the excess stores will be needed.

If anyone researching these wonders of the wild reads this article and is willing to share, I would love to read any more information you have on these trees. Anything that keeps atmosphere around for us to enjoy is alright by me, and trees have been a fascination of mine since I was a young boy. After all, I live in an area of the United States not known for its Redwoods, but I have one growing in my backyard. That’s darned cool to me.

All I know is these albino redwoods are beautiful, and I hope we discover thousands more of these elusive forest ghosts. Hopefully one day I’ll get to see one in person. But for now, I’ll settle for Google images. Thanks for reading everyone!

-Ryan Sanders