Plants
- Plants
A Frond Fared Well: Genes hint that ferns proliferated in shade of flowering plants
Analyses of genetic material from a multitude of fern species suggest that much of that plant group branched out millions of years after flowering plants first appeared, a notion that contradicts many scientists' views of plant evolution.
- Plants
Sudden oak death jumps quarantine
The funguslike microbe that causes sudden oak death has turned up on nursery plants in southern California for the first time.
- Plants
Dawn of the Y: Papaya—Glimpse of early sex chromosome
Genetic mappers say that the papaya plant has a rudimentary Y chromosome, the youngest one in evolutionary terms yet found, offering a glimpse of the evolution of sex chromosomes.
- Plants
Sweet Lurkers: Cryptic fungi protect chocolate-tree leaves
A whole world of fungi thrives inside tree leaves without causing any harm, and researchers now say these residents may help fight disease.
- Plants
Warm-Blooded Plants?
Research heats up on why some flowers have the chemistry to keep themselves warm.
- Plants
Micro Sculptors
Snippets of RNA that control biochemical reactions by squelching the creation of specific proteins play a role in the development of leaves.
- Plants
Bean plants punish microbial partners
In a novel test of how partnerships between species can last in nature, researchers have found that soybeans punish cheaters.
- Plants
Glitch splits hermaphrodite flowers
In a newly proposed scenario, polyploidy may trigger perfectly good hermaphrodite plants to evolve gender forms.
- Plants
Next loosestrife is already loose
A Florida botanist warns against Nymphoides cristata and Rotala rotundifolia, very troublesome escapees from aquariums and water gardens.
- Plants
Misunderstood stripes confuse individuality
In the debate over how many fungi make up one lichen body, a researcher argues for two unrelated fungal species in the same lichen.
- Plants
Everglades plant is he, then she, then he
Sawgrass, the signature plant of the Everglades, switches genders twice during its week of blooming and thus reduces the chances of self- fertilization.
- Plants
Emergency Gardening
High-tech tissue culture is helping some ultrarare plants finally have sprouts of their own.
