"When a jellyfish is deep, deep underwater it creates its own light," Roosegaarde tells Dezeen . "It does not have a battery or a solar panel or an energy bill. It does it completely autonomously. What can we learn from that?"

Roosegaarde is collaborating with Krichevsky to use a collection of these plants for a large-scale installation designed to look like bioluminescent trees. "I mean, come on, it will be incredibly fascinating to have these energy-neutral but at the same time incredibly poetic landscapes,” he says. Here’s a video from Dezeen of Roosegaarde talking about biomimicry at SXSW in Austin:

Relatedly, Studio Roosegaarde is working on a project called Glowing Nature, which doesn’t involve genetic modifications. Using work with bioluminescent mushrooms, they hope to coat trees with a “biological paint” so they’ll glow at night. Trials for the paint will being this year.

Video: Dezeen and MINI Frontiers