The Albino redwood is a redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens) which is unable to produce chlorophyll, so has white needles instead of the normal green. In order to survive it must remain attached to the roots of its parent tree from which it obtains nutrition as a parasite.[1] Only about twenty-five examples of the albino redwood are known. These can be found in both the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and the Humboldt Redwoods State Park, with eight trees in the first. The exact locations however, are not publicized to protect the rare trees.[2]
Redwood trees have six copies of each chromosome[3], unlike nearly all mammals which have only two, allowing for a wide variety of genetic material and quick adaptation against viruses and fungi which would otherwise kill the entire species. This very same system can give birth to mutant trees like this albino.[4]