Bucket list item: albino coast redwood tree!
Anna has been wanting to encounter an albino coast redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens) since learning about them over two decades ago—so when the surprise opportunity presented itself recently at Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve, we were both pretty excited!
Like albino animals, albino redwoods lack pigmentation, leaving their needles white instead of green. Incapable of producing chlorophyll, which allows plants and trees to convert sunlight into food, these unusual redwoods exploit sustenance from the roots of nearby healthy redwoods. Interestingly, no other conifers are known to present this mutation.
Because of their ghostly appearance among living redwoods, these beauties have been fondly nicknamed "ghost redwoods."
“Coast Redwood”
(Sequoia sempervirens)
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