Botany provides a tool for defeating art fraud
How do you know that your antique violin really is as old as the seller claims? A close examination of plant cells in the body of the violin could help catch a counterfeiter.
Alun Salt
Alun (he/him) is the Producer for Botany One. It's his job to keep the server running. He's not a botanist, but started running into them on a regular basis while working on writing modules for an Interdisciplinary Science course and, later, helping teach mathematics to Biologists. His degrees are in archaeology and ancient history.
Improving roots for crops could improve habitats for wildlife
New research finds that root capturing more nutrients could help wildlife breathe many miles away.
Honey bees are bad news for some plants in search of pollination
Some people fixate on honey bees as essential for pollination. Reality is more complicated. For one species, honey bee visits actively harm its chances of pollinating a partner.
Creosote branches dance, even after death
Scientists watching the daily movement of branches in the creosote plant have found that even dead branches move to respond to changes in the air.
Plants drink in unknown ways on gypsum hills
Gypsum soils are dry and can be found in arid environments. Chemistry shows that a surprising variety of plants survive in them by getting water locked in crystals.
What sound does Botany make?
On this site, it’s going to sound like an electronic assistant reading blog posts to you.
Does investigating the seed coat in Gnetum gnemon reveal how fruiting plants evolved?
Gnetales are a puzzle. They look like the closest relatives to angiosperms, the fruiting plants. But when you examine their genes, they appear to be distant. An investigation into the development of their seed coats might explain some of the mystery.
Do hybrids help a plant expand their range, or do they get in the way?
While hybrid plants might be less successful than their parents, if enough survive they can backcross with a parent species. This can help a parent colonise a new territory.
Rising carbon dioxide concentrations are making “the world’s most destructive toxic weed” more toxic
Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have gone up by a third since the mid 20th century. Parthenin concentrations in invasive Parthenium hysterophorus have gone up by a half.
What makes a pitcher plant’s trap so slippery?
Research into the wettability of a pitcher plant’s trap reveals that its the grooves you can see that make it so slippery – and the grooves you can’t.
Global warming will limit opportunities for a sexually-deceptive orchid
Kentucky crayfish aids plant on the run
What looks like a pile of mud to a human is an oasis to a dwarf sundew
The reason domesticated lentils are fussy about their lighting is in their genes
A comparison with wild lentils highlights how gene expression varies when light shifts from red to near infra-red light.
Carnivorous plants have evolved to hunt in packs
Some sundews are hungry like the wolf