[SoylentOrange]

You're right that a lot of the higher-order intellectual tasks are beyond the Body's comprehension, and MAry's going to use that to her advantage later on.

Yes, the Flesh can sustain itself via photosynthesis, but only just. It needs to eat something in order to grow larger. That's how the meteorite "seeds" stay alive, first by devolving to an extremely primitive form and second by surviving just off of photosynthesis.

As to what would happen were two seeds ever to cross paths on the same planet, I will say the The Body is the same wherever it goes. It's knowledge of various DNA strands might differ,but the core personality and drive would be identical, and in point of fact the two "Bodies" would probably merge together and not even know the difference- one Flesh is all Flesh, after all.

Whatever poor victims the "Mind" might be, however, is quite another matter... ^^;