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Boquila Trifoliolata
Boquila Trifoliolata is a plant that lives in the temperate regions of South American rainforests and most commonly found in Chile and Argentina. It grows vines that wrap around host plants, mimicking the host’s leaves in a phenomenon called mimetic polymorphism. This plant is capable of creating different leaf morphology on the same vine depending on the types of hosts the vine is attached to. Without any nearby host leaves to influence them, the normal leaves of the B. Trifoliolata are relatively short and light green leaves with rounded edges. The B. Trifoliolata adapted the climbing behavior to be protected from ground herbivores and the mimicry behavior as a protection against leaf herbivores.

Plants are able to communicate with each other via chemical signals. The B. Trifoliolata receive signals either through volatile chemicals emitted by the host leaves through the air or microbial gene transfer from host plants that helps it differentiate into different leaves. The act of changing its morphology does not require physically touching the leaf it is going to mimic. By receiving different host signals into its system, it is able to create specific signals and hormones in its tissues to regulate gene transcription of leaf morphology and developmental pathways for leaf differentiation. It is still unclear how B. Trifoliolata are able to differentiate the signals from hosts to separate growth to which vines grow which type of leaves.

This phenomenon was discovered and studied by researchers Ernesto Gianoli and Fernando Carrasco-Urra during their research in Chile and Argentina. They looked at 45 B. Trifoliolata vines attached to 12 different host trees and compared their leaf traits. Out of the 11 traits they studied, the B. Trifoliolata were able to mimic 9 of these traits including leaf color, shape, size, and angle depending on the host they wrap around. The B. Trifoliolata is unique in that this plant is currently the only plant that is known to be capable of mimicking more than one host.