Anyone following my blog knows my love for strange and bizarre animals, as I publish at least one or two posts every week featuring a weird species.
I don't discriminate though. I love everything strange regardless of the kingdom it belongs.
And today's fella is a plant. Although it looks more like a weird fungi. Or an alien dildo. I'll leave that to you :)
As always, let's begin with a photo:
Meet the Sarcodes, commonly known as the snow plant or snow flower:
Sarcodes is the monotypic genus of a north-west American flowering springtime plant in the heath family (Ericaceae), containing the single species Sarcodes sanguinea, commonly called the snow plant or snow flower. source
Now, its looks is not the only weird thing about this little fella. It also has a really interesting life cycle. It doesn't produce any chlorophyll so it parasitizes on a fungi to get energy. And the fungi in turn also depend on another plant to get their energy. So it's short of a parasite parasitizing on parasites 馃槀
It is a parasitic plant that derives sustenance and nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi that attach to tree roots. Lacking chlorophyll, it is unable to photosynthesize. Ectomycorrhizal (EM) symbioses involve a mutualism between a plant root and a fungus; the plant provides fixed carbon to the fungus and in return, the fungus provides mineral nutrients, water, and protection from pathogens to the plant. The snow plant takes advantage of this mutualism by tapping into the network and stealing sugars from the photosynthetic partner by way of the fungus. source
Pretty interesting, right :)
Here are two videos with actual footage and some more info on these fellas:
Ok friends, this it with today's dosage of weird.
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