plant science

A tiny pilot study found that so-called chameleon vines mimicked plastic leaves, but experts say poor study design and conflicts of interest undermine the report.

Aridity appears to configure landscapes with a greater diversity of plant species that rely on symbiotic bacteria for nitrogen.

A study suggests that several species of brown algae may have independently evolved to express both sexes simultaneously, and it’s likely that female algae evolved male traits—not the other way around.

Agarwood fruit smells like prey, luring carnivorous hornets, a study suggests.

Percy Lavon Julian, a young, Black scientist working in Jim Crow America, gained international recognition after beating chemists at the University of Oxford in the race to synthesize the alkaloid physostigmine, used for decades as a treatment for glaucoma.

Canada has ordered 76 million doses of Covifenz, the main ingredient of which was manufactured in the leaves of a tobacco relative.

The dual purposes of the plants’ hidden colors may conflict as the climate warms, authors of a new study suggest.

Elaborate annotations hidden in a copy of Sir James Edward Smith’s The English Flora hinted at the life of a mysterious woman botanist.

An analysis of more than half a million trees reveals that many species begin to taper off seed production once they hit a certain size.

The high-yield variety of rice he produced in the 1970s prevented countless people from dying of starvation.

The Boyce Thompson Institute researcher’s work revealed key insights into how plant pathogens recognize and colonize their hosts.

Danforth founded the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and expanded scientific research at Washington University and beyond campus in St. Louis.

Take a tour of a forest killed by salt inundation brought by rising seas—a powerful reminder that climate change is affecting ecosystems around the world.

Watch Profilee Joanne Chory deliver a TED talk on her project to breed climate change–busting plants.

In Chapter 5, “The Messiah, the Plague, and Shipwrecks under the City,” author Valerie Trouet tells the tale of wooden structures crafted by Europeans millennia ago and how dendrochronology helped determine their age.

I have taken plants for granted. I pledge to change.

Not only can studying the growth patterns obscured within tree trunks tell us about the past, the field can also help us plan for the future.

This year’s most beautiful illustrations covered topics including the molecular underpinnings of Parkinson’s disease and strategies for tracking marine organisms around the world’s oceans.

Watch UC Davis researcher and February profilee Neelima Sinha discuss her studies of parasitic vines and their interactions with plant hosts.