A tree growing on top of another tree

You might wonder what kind of a strange tree this is. But what you see is not a single tree but two trees - one tree growing on top of another tree. This strange phenomenon located between the towns of Grana and Casorzo in Piemonte, Italy, is locally known as 'Bialbero de Casorzo' or the 'double tree of Casorzo'. This natural oddity consists of a cherry tree growing on top of a mulberry tree.

No one really knows how the cherry tree managed to take root and survive in such a bizarre position. Locals believe that a bird might have dropped a cherry seed on top of the mulberry tree, which then grew its roots through the hollow trunk to reach the soil below.

What's really unusual about the double tree of Casorzo is that both the trees are really quite large, which is not very common in the case of parasitic growth. Such anomalies have occurred previously in nature, but the parasite tree is generally very small and stunted. In this case, however, the cherry tree is as large as any other normal tree.

Both trees merged together make for an impressive sight, with their branches spreading five meters across. And the double tree's lifespan has been surprisingly long, given the fact that the cherry tree receives all its nourishment through the mulberry tree. Although not the only double-tree, also known as an Epiphyte, in the world, the Bialbero de Casorzo is probably the most impressive-looking.

Tears and sweat turn into blood

Whenever she cries or start sweating the tears or the beads of sweat turn into blood.

Nineteen-year-old Delfina Ledano of Vernon in the Dominican Republic, has been suffering from a rare disorder for the past four years. She had been crying and sweating blood and sometimes blood also oozes out of her finger nails, belly button and nostrils.

Doctors have been trying their best to find out the causes for this condition by doing hundreds of tests but were unable to find out what was wrong with her. "At first, no one could help me and they looked at me like a crazy person when I told them what was going on," the teenager said.

"It was only when I started bleeding in front of a doctor one day that they began to take me seriously." Things got totally out of hand when she bled for up to 15 days and was in such a critical condition that she needed a blood transfusion. Delfina herself was scared to death and extremely stressed out with her horrifying condition.

"When this started happening, I didn't know what to think.

I was terrified and in complete shock." She also felt ashamed to leave home."People were terrified of me.

They thought if they touched me I would stain them with blood," she said.

"Children laughed and shouted at me. For a long time, I just stayed in my bedroom." Delfina had to drop out of school because of the way her friends and schoolmates treated her.Over time, Delfina became depressed. She tried to take her life by overdosing on sedatives.

When her family found her, she was lying in a heap in her bedroom with her mouth foaming. "I'd gone into cardiac arrest and they had to give me electric shocks.

There was a chance I might have lost the use of my limbs." Amazingly, she recovered and then her life started to get better.

A few months later, it was her strange condition that helped her find true love. Recaris Avila heard about Delfina and visited her at the hospital.

"He said I was beautiful. I will remember that moment for the rest of my life," Delfina said.

The happy couple are now engaged to be married. There has been more good news in Delfina's life this year - her doctors finally made a breakthrough.

She was diagnosed with Hematidrosis, a rare condition which means her body has 20 times the level of adrenaline of a normal person.

She also suffers from anxiety attacks, during which her blood pressure rises to such high levels that she sweats blood.

A study published by the Indian Journal of Dermatology states that the blood vessels around the sweat glands are narrowed during extreme stress.

They dilate to a point of rupture and the blood goes into the sweat glands. The blood gets mixed with sweat and is pushed to the surface of the skin.

Delfina is now being treated for anxiety, and this has helped control the bleeding.

I don't know what to feel happy for - that Delfina is getting better or that she's found love. She says that she feels free thanks to Recaris. "I don't feel empty and I don't want to die. Meeting him was exciting because I could start going out again."

Recaris is a happy man himself. "I consider our relationship normal regardless of her condition.

I'm in love. For me, it's normal. Sometimes she was embarrassed because she didn't want me to see her bleeding," he said. "I'm not worried. With her, I feel like a happy man."