Administered by:
Boquila trifoliolata is a vine which lives in temperate rainforests in Chile and Argentina. It looks pretty unexciting, but that's just what the plant wants you to think!
This plant will mimic the leaves of any tree it grows on, or even mimic leaves which happen to be nearby. No one knows how it does this.
The vine doesn't need any physical contact to do this. Some botanists think it can "smell" and recognise nearby plants. More outlandishly, others wonder if it might have rudimentary vision.
The idea of plant vision isn't quite as ridiculous as it may first seem.
Some cyanobacteria can "see" by using their entire single-celled bodies to focus light. A little like tiny swimming eyeballs. The idea that higher plants could contain similar structures (called "ocelli") has been hypothesised by botanists for some time. Among others, Francis Darwin (the son of Charles Darwin).
Here's an article from Scientific American with more info:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/veggies-with-vision-do-plants-see-the-world-around-them/
So plants may be watching you with a collection of tiny, tiny cell-sized eyes.
Watching you, but probably not judging you.
Probably.
A possibly related phenomenon is called crown shyness – certain species of trees will very politely avoid overshadowing each other in a forest canopy, leaving gaps between each others' branches.
Mostly trees of the same species will do this, but different species of tree have been observed doing this too.
Again, no one's entirely sure how the trees do this, and some botanists are probably arguing about it somewhere right now.
@InvaderXan Seeing this makes me think of how awful people who use natural selection as an excuse to be terrible people, when in reality even plants seem to peacefully co-operate with each other
@Yza
It's sad how many people seem to purposefully misunderstand natural selection so they can try to feel justified in their douchebaggery...
@InvaderXan Another aspect of natural selection I like to think about is how it's not about individuals being well adapted, but the species in general. Diversity is really good for that and ensures a species is more flexible and more equipped to deal with different challenges. Even something that seems like a weakness in an individual can be a strength for the community. "Survival of the fittest" is such bullshit
@Yza
Diversity is key. And, in my opinion, it's one of humanity's greatest strengths. Suppressing our diversity weakens us all.