From Wikipedia:<p>“In a 2022 paper, it was suggested that the plant has some sort of vision using ocelli. This hypothesis was presented on the basis of experiments in which the vine appeared to mimic plastic vines and artificial plants. However, the only control used was the lower leaves on the same plants, with an opaque shelf over them which could have influenced light exposure. The lack of control plants climbing anything apart from the same model of artificial host plant makes it plausible that the observed differences were due to age and light exposure.”<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boquila" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boquila</a>
I found this fascinating!<p>I have no ability to vet the paper for science I'm afraid, but on an intuitive level, and especially given all the different biological sensing and animal-cleverness results that have been reported in recent years, I would not be at all surprised if the 'vision' hypothesis holds in the end.<p>Cuttlefish (maybe even perhaps their skin independently of the brain?) can do this type of pattern-sensing and response, so why not plants?<p>To be able to do this kind of thing only requires slightly a bigger (and perhaps differently-shaped) buffer for information ultimately, right?
There are a few other plants that do similar mimicry of specific plants, but what's remarkable about B. trifoliolata is that it mimics such a large variety of plant leaves. Even leaves of some plants not found in it's native habitat! Even more remarkable is the fact that it does not require physical contact with a plant to mimic the leaves! As far as we know, this is totally unique
I’ve been trying to find a place to buy this plant (Texas, USA) for 3 years. Every place online I have found is always out of stock. Right now is actually the season to plant it, so I’ve been looking for it again. Has anyone found a place to buy it that is not out of stock and ships to the US?
When it comes to other animals, theres a lot of principled caution about attributing supposedly "human" concepts to apes or orca whales. When it comes to computers, we tend to be exceedingly cautious.<p>For some reason that principled caution goes out the window once we start talking about plants.<p>Here on HN I've seen folks equate photoreceptivity to consciousness, chemical exchanges between roots to full fledged "communication", and indulge in open ended musing about the gaia hypothesis. Practically everything is game and there's no telling how seroius people are being or if they're just getting lost in their own metaphors.