A Botanist Weighs in on Baby Groot Debate

Even though James Gunn has come out and said that Baby Groot is the son of Groot, fans still argue about this very fact. So, what does a botanist have to say about the matter? Enter James Wong. He breaks down how botany explains that Baby Groot is really a clone of Groot and that there may be a million more Baby Groots on Xandar. Which side are you on?

THE BIOLOGY OF BABY GROOT. ⬇️

Baby groot is created from a cutting of Groot, an ambulant alien plant who dies at the end of the 1st Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

Geeks are hotly debating whether he is a ‘son’ of Groot or just Groot living on.

Botanist to the rescue... pic.twitter.com/7NqKI65M9l

— James Wong (@Botanygeek) May 7, 2018

Baby Groot is the result of a form of asexual reproduction known as vegetative propagation.

Plants, unlike most animals, retain their stem cells through their lives. So cloning them is super easy.

Baby Groot is therefore a perfect genetic clone of Big Groot. pic.twitter.com/l5Dqaw4DCZ

— James Wong (@Botanygeek) May 7, 2018

‘Son’s’ tend to only share 1/2 their DNA with their parents. So this analogy is tricky. Genetically they are one and the same, more like identical twins.

(Unless, of course, Baby groot was actually grown from the pollen/spores/seeds emitted by Groot in the crash landing scene?) pic.twitter.com/nLxjiwphwA

— James Wong (@Botanygeek) May 7, 2018

If it was indeed pollen in that scene, it would suggest there is a mysterious ‘Lady Groot’ character we have so far not seen.

However, as many (most?) plants are simultaneously male and female, it is highly likely that we all have our pronouns wrong here! pic.twitter.com/oHysGBS6RX

— James Wong (@Botanygeek) May 7, 2018

And finally, as we now know even Earth plants can process complex information about the world around them & retain it without the need for a centralised storage organ like animals need (ie a brain).

If Baby groot is a cutting, it is likely it retains Big Groot’s memories!😱 pic.twitter.com/1dpM4Dubl2

— James Wong (@Botanygeek) May 7, 2018

And if you are cross about this thread proposing a speculative hypothesis about fictional, alien exobiology....

Congrats! You are even more of a geek than me. 🌿🌴🔬 pic.twitter.com/XSECg3STDZ

— James Wong (@Botanygeek) May 7, 2018

As plants can be divided & propagated infinitely by cuttings, there may be many more Baby Groots on Xandar.

AND as plants can be grafted together w/o tissue rejection (like the diff blossoms in the below pic) the Baby Groots could be stitched together to make a MEGA GROOT! pic.twitter.com/MXf8fyVku6

— James Wong (@Botanygeek) May 8, 2018