Plants

  1. Agriculture

    Study decodes papaya genome

    Scientists have added another plant to the genome-sequencing roster: the tropical fruit tree papaya.

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  2. Plants

    Floral Shocker: Blooms shake roots of flowering-plant family

    A tiny aquatic plant, once thought to be related to grasses, raises new questions about the evolution of the earliest flowering plants.

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  3. Plants

    Attack of the skinny tomato

    An extra copy of one gene slims down tomatoes.

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  4. Plants

    City life changes style of weed seeds

    City living pushes for rapid evolution in the seed strategy of a little yellow flower along French sidewalks.

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  5. Plants

    Promiscuous orchids

    When pollinators aren't loyal to a single species of orchid, the plants maintain their species integrity by stymieing reproduction.

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  6. Plants

    Traveling tubers

    Potato varieties from Chile arrived in Europe several years before the blights of the mid-1800s, a new analysis of DNA from old plant collections reveals.

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  7. Plants

    Botanists refine family tree for flowering plants

    Two research teams have used the biggest array of flowering-plant genes yet to try to reconstruct the elusive evolutionary history of today's flowers.

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  8. Plants

    So Sproutish: Anti-aging gene for plants gives drought protection

    A gene that can hold off the decrepitude of old age in plants offers an unusual approach to protecting crops from drought.

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  9. Plants

    It Takes a Village: Tweaking neighbors reroutes evolution

    The other residents of a plant's neighborhood can make a big difference in whether evolutionary forces favor or punish a plant's trait.

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  10. Plants

    Tough Frills: Ferns’ wimp stage aces survival test

    A supposedly fragile stage in the life of ferns shows surprising toughness.

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  11. Plants

    Stalking the Green Meat Eaters

    Pitcher plants in a New England bog hold little ecosystems in their leaves, and also act as indicators of the bog's ecological health.

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  12. Plants

    Water-saving grain

    Rice with an added gene needs less water and can survive drought.

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