That's no Moon: Planet-sized Plants Possible?

Inspired by the many great questions asked for this fortnight's tag challenge, I got to thinking, could a plant develop/evolve to eventually consume an entire planet, and keep on living? What I mean by this is that a single organism, or perhaps a colony, both covered the surface of the planet and also converted the vast majority of the planet's mass into plant matter, most of which would either be alive or recently dead but ready to be consumed and converted back into living matter. Essentially, there would be no part of the planet not used by the plant, and yet with these resources the plant could survive indefinitely.

Also, just imagine exploring such a planet. You'd be like "Where's the ground on this planet?" and your scientist would incredulously reply "There is no ground. This tree is the planet."

I know many plants on Earth are pretty good at thriving in the craziest environments and overcoming all sorts of obstacles, but this seems a few levels more difficult. What sorts of hurdles would the plant have to evolve over to make this happen, and what things might make it impossible? Is there perhaps a theoretical planet that would make this process more plausible?

posted almost 10 years ago

DaaaahWhoosh‭

21 reputation 19 2 2 0