Plants
- Plants
Small difference factored big in rice domestication
A change in a single letter of a rice plant's genetic code gave it the ability to hold onto grains until harvest.
- Plants
Save the Flowers
Now that breeders have created thousands of new ornamental-flower varieties, scientists are turning their attention to restoring the fragrances that fell victim to the process.
- Plants
Day-Glo Flowers: Some bright blooms naturally fluoresce
Some common flowers fluoresce but the glow most likely has little effect on pollinators.
- Plants
Mommy Greenest
Green leafy moms take care of their offspring in ways that go beyond wrapping them in nice, snug seed coats and packing a nutritious lunch for them.
- Plants
Honey, We Shrank the Snow Lotus: Picking big plants reduces species’ height
Years of harvesting the larger plants of a Himalayan wildflower used in traditional medicines may be driving the evolution of a stubbier plant form.
- Plants
Long search reveals cell receptor for plant growth
More than 70 years after biologists identified the important plant growth hormone auxin, they have finally found a cell-receptor molecule for it.
- Plants
World’s fastest plant explodes with pollen
A high-speed camera has revealed the explosive pollen launches of bunchberry dogwood flowers as the fastest plant motion known.
- Plants
Built-in bird perch spreads the pollen
Tests confirm the idea that a plant benefits from growing a bird perch to let pollinators get the best angle for reaching the flowers.
- Plants
In a Snap: Leaf geometry drives Venus flytrap’s bite
Behind a Venus flytrap's rapid snap lies an extraordinary shape-changing mechanism.
- Plants
Botany under the Mistletoe
Twisters, spitters, and other flowery thoughts for romantic moments.
- Plants
Give and Take: Plant parasites dole out genes while stealing nutrients
New evidence suggests that parasitic plants can transfer their own genes into host plants.
- Plants
Green Red-Alert: Plant fights invaders with animal-like trick
Mustard plants' immune systems can react to traces of bacteria with a burst of nitric oxide, much as an animal's immune system does.
