Are there any albino plants?

Are there any albino plants?

Most people associate albinism with animals, but albino plants do exist says Stuart Blackman

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Yes there are albino plants. Plants that are unable to produce chlorophyll appear very pale or even white. Usually they die very young (as soon as their seed reserves have run out) because they cannot produce energy via photosynthesis.

But in some species - North American redwoods (world's tallest tree), for example - albinos occasionally survive to maturity by tapping into the roots of neighbouring trees and stealing food from them.

Variegated plants, in which only some regions of the leaves produce chlorophyll, could be seen as partial albinos. These are found not only among garden varieties - wild red clover leaves, for example, are typically patterned with a V-shaped albino region.

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