plants

Esther Ngumbi believes that chemical signals between plants, microbes, and insects hold the key to secure and sustainable food production.

Abundant environmental CO₂ can increase plant biomass and photosynthesis, but it has downsides for agriculture and ecosystems, a growing body of research finds.

An honorable mention in the 2022 Nikon Small World in Motion competition shows thale cress sperm being released into the ovule.

All multicellular creatures interact with bacteria, but some have taken the relationship to another level with highly specialized structures that house, feed, and exploit the tiny organisms.

Specialized structures in plants and animals help attract and mediate communication with bacterial symbionts.

Sequences for the model organism and two of its kin reveal how these plants got their oversized genomes.

Hoffmann traveled through Chile cataloging its rare flora. Later, she fought to defend the country’s forests from commercial deforestation.

The growing season on the tundra is starting earlier as the planet warms, but the plants aren’t sequestering more carbon, a new study finds.

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

Scientists warn that climate change–induced early flowering could have negative effects on wildlife, agriculture, and gardening.

Whole genome sequences reveal multiple domestications of this agriculturally important tree and may hold the secrets to producing the sweet fruit year round.

The first reference-quality genome for this grass species could aid managers in understanding and eradicating this highly invasive plant.

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.

Spores found in 480 million-year-old rock bring the fossil record in line with molecular estimates of when plants first adapted to life on land.

Phylogenomics data place the enigmatic plankton in the middle of the algal family tree, despite their apparent lack of plastids—an organelle characteristic of all other algae.

Whether the galls that aphids make on witch hazel leaves are red or green is associated with a gene expressed in the insects’ salivary glands.

Their relocation explains horizontal genome transfer first described more than a decade ago.

Researchers disentangle complex connections among vegetation, herbivores, and dung in the South African savanna.