I have thought and talked about this so often with people. It is fascinating, such as the plants that mimic the shape of the birds that feed upon them - such as

I have thought and talked about this so often with people. It is fascinating, such as the plants that mimic the shape of the birds that feed upon them - such as hummingbirds. But the genes are not spread leaf-to-leaf - its through the roots, and may even be communicated through mycelium highways in the root systems where the same mycelium org is symbiotic with both plants. I wonder what cultivating and formative impact "farming mycelium" might cause in an eco system. I wonder if the plant in question is able to decode genes that it receives via the Hyphae fungal network, and knows the genes for "aesthetic and functional appearance for survival here, based on the active genes from the successful plants around me>" and can just sideload those genes into its makeup. Does its offspring, or even clones - removed from that mimic'd env also continue to look like the mimic'd plant? -- I am pretty sure that the transfer of genes is from the horizontal gene transfer among "neighboring leaves" as it were - but perhaps among the root, as shared by mycelium (fungi) rhizal -- mycorrhizal root structure which shares nutrients between a plant and the fungus. >mycorrhizae, known as root fungi, form symbiotic associations with plant roots. In these associations, the fungi are actually integrated into the physical structure of the root. The fungi colonize the living root tissue during active plant growth. Through mycorrhization, the plant obtains phosphate and other minerals, such as zinc and copper, from the soil. The fungus obtains nutrients, such as sugars, from the plant root. Mycorrhizae help increase the surface area of the plant root system because hyphae, which are narrow, can spread beyond the nutrient depletion zone. <-- may lead to why the plants may seem far enough apart. https://i.imgur.com/s3Xv6TF.png https://i.imgur.com/s3Xv6TF.png https://i.imgur.com/PVn6grj.png https://i.imgur.com/PVn6grj.png https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/MPMI-05-14-0129-FI https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/MPMI-05-14-01... https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book%3A_General_Biology_%28Boundless%29/31%3A_Soil_and_Plant_Nutrition/31.03%3A__Nutritional_Adaptations_of_Plants/31.3B%3A_Mycorrhizae-_The_Symbiotic_Relationship_between_Fungi_and_Roots https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_Gene... -- Here is another video on these plants though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWWsYw9fH0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWWsYw9fH0 (this guy is talking about bacteria, but its fungi)