A Shapeshifting Plant?
Hey Everyone!
I recently heard about a plant with the ability to shapeshift and decided to do a little research on my own. A friend sent me a TikTok, and I wanted to share it with all of you. To see it, click the button below.
This shapeshifting plant is called the Boquila trifoliolata. It can attach itself to a host plant and begin morphing into the shape of the host plant; a phenomenon called mimetic polymorphism. The exact mechanism used to do this is still unknown. Originally it was thought to be one of two hypotheses:
One hypothesis is that volatile organic compounds emitted from host plant leaves induce a phenotypic change in nearby B. trifoliolata leaves. By receiving different host signals into its system, it is able to create specific signals and hormones in its tissues to regulate gene transcription of leaf morphology and developmental pathways for leaf differentiation. The other hypothesis is that there could be horizontal gene transfer between the host and B. trifoliolata. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boquila)
A later study showed that the Boquila trifoliolata doesn’t just mimic the shape of live plants but can also take the shape of plastic plants, disproving the original hypotheses of an organic compound or gene transfer from the host plant.
If you are interested in reading the study, I linked it below, but it can be a bit dense.
This is just a quick summary of what I was able to learn. If you are looking for more details than I provided, please watch and read the links attached above :)
I hope you enjoyed it!
P.S. I am looking into starting a substack chat where I can answer plant questions since my Twitter is way too big to see everyone’s questions. When I figure this out, it will be a paid-only service, and you are already included in that group :)
-Houseplant Hobbyist
Citation:
Jacob White & Felipe Yamashita (2022) Boquila trifoliolata mimics leaves of an artificial plastic host plant, Plant Signaling & Behavior, 17:1, DOI: 10.1080/15592324.2021.1977530