A non-binary plant that keeps switching sex is the first to be recognized as gender-fluid.
The Dungowan Bush Tomato plant – which is famously found in the remote Australian outback – has confused scientists since it was first discovered in the 1970s because the bright purple flowers of the plant can vary between female, others male, and a combination of both.
According to Bangshowbiz, Professor Chris Martine and his team of researchers at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, US, have now named the plant Solanum plastisexum, the second part of which is derived from a Greek root meaning ‘changeable’, combined with the Latin word for sex.
He said: “For the most part, a given plant species will stick to one primary and predictable type of sexual expression.
“But what makes Solanum plastisexum stand out is that it is one of a just a few plants that kind of do it all. It really seems like you never know what you’ll get when you come across it.”
“This name, for us, is not just a reflection of the diversity of sexual forms seen in this species.”
According to a report on The Sun, “around 85 percent of the Earth’s quarter of a million plant species have flowers that are bisexual. This means they have both male and female sexual organs present in every blossom. Others have single-sex flowers or whole plants that are either male or female, like cannabis.”
“But the new plant, a relative of the aubergine, can change its sex several times throughout its life. It has a single stem, with purple flowers and yellow fruit, and stands 80cm (2ft 7in) tall”
The case of the Dungowon Bush Tomate is a strange anomaly in the botanical sphere, considering it is quite different from most plants that have both sexes but never pivoting back and forth between both male and female. According to a report, there are numerous ways in which plants arrange their sexual organs: from both sexes in the same flower to sexes separated in different flowers or individuals. One widespread sexual strategy that remains an evolutionary enigma is the production of both male and bisexual flowers in the same plant, which occurs in approximately 4000 species.”
