From The Darwin Awards’ Tree Category:

Trees Might Be “Aware” of Their Size
University of Helsinki via Phys.org / Jan. 30, 2020

Trees are known for their great, but not unlimited, trunk height and diameter. They have evolved to develop a heavy above-ground biomass, but this integral feature poses a challenge to the trunk’s stability.

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“Even though the idea of plants sensing their own weight and thickening their stem accordingly sounds intuitive, our study is the first one to address this question in trees,” says Juan Alonso-Serra from the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki.

One approach to understand how this weight-sensing mechanism works is by comparing normal plants with plants lacking this ability. The researchers took advantage of a naturally occurring birch mutant named elimäki. This exceptional tree grows upright for three months, after which its stem suddenly bends at the very base, and the whole tree collapses.

The researchers showed that, unlike normal trees, elimäki trees fail to properly adjust their width to their increasing weight, which makes them less stable.

What do you know? A living, breathing metaphor for government social programs.