Plants
- Plants
Kleptoplast
A cellular part such as a light-harvesting chloroplast that an organism takes from algae it has eaten.
- Animals
A year of rediscovered species
Thousands of species go extinct each year, but at least a few are found after many years of being lost.
- Plants
Lone survivor of ancient flowers is gluttonous gene consumer
The rare Amborella shrub has engulfed whole genomes from other species.
- Plants
How weeds hitchhike across the country
A drive down a muddy lane can be fun, but it can also pick up the seeds of weeds or invasive species and transport them far away.
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- Plants
In dry times, these trees invest in ants
The insects provide adequate defense by ganging up on leaf-eating caterpillars and biting their undersides until the herbivores fall off the tree.
- Plants
Single-sex flowers release his, hers fragrances
Growing on the same tree, male blooms smell different from female blooms in certain tropical plant species.
- Earth
Trees mark the spot of buried gold
Tiny bits of the precious metal in eucalyptus leaves indicate treasure lurks belowground.
- Plants
Just a few tree species dominate Amazon forest
The Amazonian rainforest, known to be one of the most species-rich areas on the planet, is actually dominated by a only few tree species.
- Plants
Tiny fossils set record for oldest flowerlike pollen
Oldest flowerlike pollen might have come from an ancient relative of today’s flowering plants.
- Plants
Hard-shelled seaweed survives by its loose knees
Stringy joints between calcified algae’s segments don’t break easily under repeated stresses.
- Plants
Dastardly daisies
This flower isn’t just any old sex cheat. It can be sexually deceptive three ways and in 3-D.
