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Palm trees are more sexually fluid than once thought. Four individuals transitioning from male to female have been spotted in a Colombian forest.

Sexual expression is complicated in the plant world. Some plants are dioecious, meaning they are either male or female. Others are monoecious, so a single plant has male and female flowers. A third group is hermaphroditic, meaning their flowers have both male and female parts.

The Quindío wax palm () – Colombia’s national tree – was thought to be strictly dioecious. Flowers on…