Shape shifting plant Boquila Trifoliolata may be able to see
An implausible theory gets new evidence
I rarely write about plants. They are much more my wife’s area of interest, but I couldn’t help being fascinated by the South American vine Boquila trifoliolata, the only known species of the Boquila genus native to southern Chile and Argentina.
Like many vines, it requires a host, wrapping itself around a tree, for example, and climbing upward to gain access to sunlight.
Unlike other vines, however, B. trifoliolata is a chameleon, mimicking the size, shape, color, and even vein pattern of its host’s leaves. This astonishing ability, discovered in 2014 by Gianoli and Carrasco-Urra, was the subject of numerous articles such as this one in National Geographic.
While there are many kinds of plants that can mimic their hosts, most require physical contact. B. trifoliolata does not. In addition, a recent 2022 paper suggests that it can mimic plastic plants as well.
As with animals, mimicry is a defense mechanism. Resembling the host protects the plant from leaf herbivores that may be looking to snack on a tasty vine.
The B. trifoliolata is not a parasite, in the sense that it doesn’t feed off its host. It simply uses hosts for protection and structure. In…
