walking tree

Green Island is one of 300 coral cays on the Great Barrier Reef but is the only one with rainforest.
The vine thicket rainforest and coastal fringe vegetation is home to over 120 species of plants (not bad for a water fringed speck with a circumference of 1.6km) with wonderful common names such as Octopus Bush, Sea Lettuce, Cheesefruit (think well aged blue cheese), Beauty leaf and Fish Poison Tree.

Blipped is Pandanus tectorius and distinctive for the high positioning of the roots which help the tree stay upright in sandy and swampy environments.
A Polynesian story gives rise to the common name 'walking tree', telling of the male tree's ability to 'walk' to the female tree if she is not close enough.
The botanical explanation is that in order to get as much sunlight as possible, the tree sends down new roots while releasing others and in effect 'walks'.
They actually do move along and can travel two metres in five years!