Coral - Plant or Animal? More of a... Planimal.

Based on appearances alone, most coral look more like plants than animals. Appearances can be deceiving though, as coral are part of the animal kingdom. Why talk about them here then?

The majority of corals live in shallow, saltwater environments in what we call coral reefs and they require exposure to the sun in order to survive. Some coral are able to catch micro-organisms and small fish but this isn't their main food source. They look like plants and they act like plants - must be an animal!

The reason coral need the sun to survive is actually for the purpose of photosynthesis, but it's not them that does the work. It's more of a contractual, mutually beneficial relationship they have with photosynthetic, unicellular algae known as zooxanthellae. Even the coral that eat other small animals still rely predominantly on zooxanthellae as their primary food source. These unicellular algae live in the tissue of the coral and provide constant nourishment for the coral, who, in return, provides room and board and safety. 

Even algae are not classified as plants, but the majority of them do photosynthesize like plants. In this case, it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and I'm going to call it a duck, or as close to a duck as it gets!

Zooxanthellae, also referred to as Symbiodinium, are the largest group of their kind known to science. Most algae are either free-floating or affixed to a solid surface (rocks, other plants, turtle shells, etc.). Zooxanthellae are unique in that they work together with animals and coexist with them exclusively in order to survive. This type of coexistence is known as endosymbiotic. This living arrangement is not restricted to coral alone, zooxanthellae can also be found in the tissue of sea anemones and jellyfish.



Long story short, coral are innovative, unique creatures that have managed to farm their food right in their bodies. They no longer need to hunt or scavenge, they don't even need to move! Life spent basking in the sun as the landlord for millions of algae who pay you in food - that's an easy life!

NEXT BLOG: A plant that wreaks of death and could swallow your child whole!

Corpse Flower - Bigger Is Better!

Cloning - Easier Than You Thought!

Cloning animals - next to impossible. Cloning plants - exceptionally easy (for many types of plants) and pretty much foolproof! Oftentimes, it is impossible to get plants to stop cloning themselves! A perfect example: Your lawn.


Human beings have a fascination with the concept of cloning. The idea of taking an exceptionally complex organism with billions of DNA strands and reproducing an exact replica, is really quite profound! For the most part, cloning of animals is rare, except in the case of identical twins and the odd sheep that scientists offend God with by cloning...

A Kalanchoe with clones growing
on the leaf margins (edges).

With many plants, cloning is a primary form of reproduction. They do this by means of 'vegetative propagation'. This can be accomplished in a multitude of ways: offsets (clones that grow right off the base of the parent), stolons (modified roots that grow along the soil surface and grow clones along the way - think of Spider Plants), and some even grow clones right on the edges of their leaves which then drop off and root themselves. Imagine if we grew our children on our arms and they just dropped off and started living their lives as we went about our day. Simple and efficient, none of this 20+ years of raising offspring! Oh... To be a plant.

One of the strangest ways to clone a plant is to just cut off a piece and stick it in water or soil. Imagine if we could do that with animals! Just break off a finger, stick it in a glass of water and grow a whole new you! Creepy, actually...


When vegetatively propagating plants from 'cuttings', many plants are picky when it comes to where they will grow new root tissue. Plants have cells in what is called the meristematic tissue, and these cells are akin to stem cells in us. They have no assigned role yet, and can become a leaf cell, a root cell, a stem cell (a plant stem), etc.. Meristems are located all over plants and are concentrated at the growing tips (where most of the new tissue is produced) along with different hormones that are controlling exactly what is going on. When attempting to root a cutting, it is often these meristems that we want to use to ensure the best chance of root cells developing.


There is an entire industry that now revolves around 'Meristematic Tissue Culture'. This is a microscopic procedure where scientists or botanists or whomever (even the layperson can now do this) removes meristematic tissue cells and places them in a sugar-rich environment (plant sugars or plant food) in a petri dish. In this environment, these cells multiply and begin differentiating the cells to become every part of a whole new plant clone. The orchid industry has flourished with this type of propagation as it is easer than producing new orchids from seed (a microscopic venture of its own) and few orchids breed true to their parent's genetics. The best way to get a replica of an orchid is with meristematic tissue culture, and harvesting even one meristematic tip of an orchid can produce hundreds if not thousands of tiny microscopic clones!


Next time you pass an African Violet, break off a leaf and stick it in a glass of water or pot of soil. A whole new plant, or two or three, will grow from it! Before you know it, you could be overrun with a small army of plants! Not really, but I smell a sequel to Little Shop of Horrors...






NEXT BLOG - If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's usually not a duck.

Coral - Plant or Animal? More of a... Planimal.

Sundew - Serial Killer, How Dew You Dew The Things You Dew?

Perhaps one of the most unique-looking plants, Drosera, or Sundew, is a cunning murderer of small insects and a beautiful one at that! Making its home in bogs, marshes or swamps, the ground is often highly acidic and void of nutrients, so the Sundew has adapted to find food of its own.


The idea behind this stunning little plant is a unique system of entrapment. By resembling dew, a prime water source for small insects and other animals, the Sundew manages to lure and trap its prey and then dissolves and ingests the creature almost entirely. Plants that consume animals are known as 'carnivorous plants'. What would what a vegetarian have to say about this!


One has to wonder how the plant evolved to take on the appearance of dew-soaked leaves. Without eyes or conscious thought, how is it possible that over thousands or millions of years, the plant just happened to develop a lethal system of entrapment that effectively mimics condensation on its leaves? The Sundews developed this mechanism of 'eating' to supplement their diet because the soils in which they live are typically very nutrient-poor. They are very efficient in supplementing their dietary intake and can often live for decades in these environments.


Sundews are found all over the globe and have evolved into several different types, but all have the same principle method of entrapping their prey. For the most part, they are small plants reaching several inches in size, but some have 'dew'-soaked leaves extending up to 10 feet! Leaves like these are capable of capturing large insects and even small rodents and birds!

The dew itself resembles nectar and serves to attract insects with its sweet, sticky sap. Once contact is made, the laminae (the little sticks supporting each 'dew' droplet) begin fusing to the prey and as it struggles, more and more sticky droplets ensnare the victim. The sundew is capable of movement as well, and once contact is made, the leaf will curl to expose its prey to as many droplets as possible and kill it quickly. This movement can take less than a second to occur and is controlled by 'hydraulics' - changes in water pressure within the tissue of the plant. Most victims die of exhaustion or suffocation, at which point the plant starts releasing digestive enzymes that dissolve the nutritious tissue. The plant feeds on this nitrogen-rich nutrient soup for days or weeks and continues trapping more prey.

Sundews produce tiny, white flowers to reproduce that are held high above the plant on tall stalks. This can help make the flowers of these short plants more visible to pollinators, and also keep pollinators away from the sticky trap below.  Aside from this, they can produce offsets (little clones that break off from the parent plant), stolons (modified roots that travel away from the parent and sprout new plants) or even grow new plants from leaves that touch the ground.

The Sundew is definitely an innovator in the plant world and there really isn't anything that compares to the uniqueness and capabilities of this tiny little serial killer.


NEXT BLOG - Dolly, the sheep clone, has nothing on plants! Learn how plants have perfected self-cloning in the next article.

Cloning - Easier Than You Thought!

Strangled To Death - By a Fig?

Think of a fig, and you're probably thinking of the somewhat unpopular fruit eaten by the intestinally-challenged. You're not thinking 'slow death my strangulation', right?


The Ficus genus contains numerous plant species, including Ficus carica, the common fruit fig, a completely harmless and well-behaved tree. Some fig species, however, are the most unforgiving and brutal murderers you could think of! There are several types of 'Strangler Figs' actually, but the true figs fall under the Ficus genus. Many completely different plants, including some vines, are called 'Strangler Figs' but are mistakenly labeled as such.


They commit their foul deeds by means of buttress roots - roots that grow from branches high above ground and extend to the ground below where they root themselves to take up water and nutrients, and to help stabilize themselves more securely. It goes beyond that too though... In the dark recesses of the plant world, Strangler Figs are cunning bringers of death in the slowest fashion possible.

Let's say that we, a Strangler Fig, have just produced seeds in the dense, overcrowded forest in which we live. Competition in a lush forest like this is intense, and the biggest fight is simply for light. Starting life under the canopy of the trees is a dark and trying way to begin life and many saplings never make it. They wait and wait for a tree to fall and then take advantage of the gap, should the opportunity ever arise, and it often never does.


Continuing on, these Strangler Fig seeds were ingested by a bird who flew a few kilometres away and deposited it kindly for us in the crevice of a rival tree high up in the canopy. Our offspring then begins to grow and starts sending down buttress roots dozens of feet to the ground below. Once the first root breaks ground, more roots begin growing, and more and more. With the added elevation, the sun exposure is far greater and the Strangler Fig takes off!


Over the next many months and years, these buttress roots continue growing and multiplying, eventually surrounding its host almost completely. Up top in the canopy, the Fig has started outcompeting the host tree for light and stressing it. Being unable to expand any further, the host tree eventually loses its ability to take up water and nutrients, and eventually it is strangled to death. The host tree will continue to stand, probably for years, but eventually it will rot away leaving a hollowed out Strangler Fig with an unusual network of roots forming the trunk.



Strangler Figs are not only brutal, but they are resourceful. They take advantage of whatever vantage point they can to reach the sun, and can often be found covering inanimate objects such as rocks, cliffs or buildings. There isn't much that the Strangler Fig won't attempt to overtake, but thankfully people haven't appealed to them just yet.





NEXT BLOG - Death by dew? Or so it seems. This little plant has perfected serial killing with minimal effort and manages to feed itself by murdering insects!

Sundew - Serial Killer, How Dew You Dew The Things You Dew?

A Parasite By Any Other Name

Tis the season for Mistletoe!

When the majority of us think of Mistletoe, we think of love, amore, kissing and... Ahem. We don't think of parasites, poison and bird poop.


Mistletoe is a successful parasite by any means. How it came to be a symbol of love and tradition is another story, and a far stretch from reality if you ask me. Most commonly named Viscum album, "Mistletoe", is a parasitic, poisonous plant that spends it's life sucking the life-giving juices out of its host tree. They find a suitable host and tap into it like a mosquito on your arm, but they never let go and over time that siphoning mouthpart grows bigger and fuses to your skin, becoming a part of you. Never again will a mosquito seem that bad...


Not only that, but if you were to ingest Mistletoe, you would be likely to incur acute stomach pain, diarrhea and a slowing of your pulse. Yes, Mistletoe will try to kill you too!


Mistletoe can parasitize over 200 different species of trees. They photosynthesize very little on their own and draw most of their food and water from the branches they inhabit in the tree canopy. So, how do they get there? Poop. Those little berries we all recognize attract birds which eat them, and then perch somewhere else and defecate the seed onto another tree branch. Even Mistletoe babies are parasites riding in the stomachs of birds!

How many kisses would
you get if you hung that
over your door?

There are many different types of Mistletoe actually, some that you would never recognize as such. Most Mistletoes do actually produce some of their own food, but there are other brutal life-suckers that do none of their own work. A perfect example of this is the leafless Quintral, or Tristerix aphyllus, who makes its home inside a spiny cactus and only ever emerges to produce flowers, seeds and to spread its gift to another unlucky cactus somewhere in the world.

Mistletoe can grow to significant sizes, big enough to thieve enough food and water from its host to kill it. And that's just one Mistletoe plant. In droves, they can take down small forests and decimate a landscape.

I'm sure we will all have a merry holiday this season, maybe with a little less poisonous, parasitic, bird-defecated, lethal Mistletoe.

Merry Christmas!



NEXT BLOG - Death by Strangulation. Or death by Fig. Maybe both?

Strangled To Death - By A Fig?

It's Not Easy Being Green, But It Sure Is Fun Without A Conscience!

Plants... 

I told you, they're murderous little villains that do despicable things for sex and power. It's true. They do things that we, as humans, would consider sinful and unconscionable. But then, we have that nagging little thing called a conscience that gets in the way of that old adage: "Survival of the fittest." Do plants think? We know they feel. They react. They release stress hormones when abused. They grow better when we talk to them (no, I don't talk to my plants... Often.). But do they think? If they do, then they just - don't - care. And if that's the case, think twice the next time you mow the lawn...

In no other category of life is it truer than it is with plants - if you are fitter than the guy next to you, you live and he just may not. Not if you have anything to do with it. Plants have perfected the assassination role. They have honed their impostor personas. They have downright murdered their victims with a slow, agonizing death stretching out over months and years. It's vile, the things they will do to outcompete each other for real-estate, breeding rights, food and water consumption... They want all the same things as us, and they're not afraid to get downright dirty and despicable to get what they want.

Plants fascinate me. I've been learning about them for decades now, which is weird to say because I'm not that old, yet. But I'm old enough that I know enough to potentially write an interesting and captivating blog about something most people consider, perhaps, bland. As much as I hope to entertain, I'd like to inform too, but above all, I'll try to keep it interesting. And short (like a bonsai) and sweet (like a potato).


That being said, I hope you learn something, and me too for that matter. Life's a lesson, so let's get on with it!

NEXT BLOGS

You're probably wanting to know more about the murderous monsters and sex-obcessed impostors, right? Read on to the next blog to find out more!

A Parasite By Any Other Name