In this laser scan, plant is shown in blue and symbiotic mycorrhizal fungus in red. More than 90% of plants depend on mycorrhizal fungi. What we call plants are really algae that have evolved to farm fungi, and fungi that have evolved to farm algae. The history of life is a story of intimacies within intimacies.

~ 

The plant is Voyria tenella, a non-photosynthetic species which depends entirely on its fungal partners for its nutrition. The sample was collected in a lowland tropical forest in Panama. 

~ 

The scan was made using confocal laser scanning microscopy with differential staining of plant and fungal tissues. 

~ 

Video © Merlin Sheldrake