In southeast China there is a puzzle. Pseudotaxus chienii lives as a relict, a plant that used to have a much wider geographic range. Now it’s limited to comparatively few locations. This is common for many plants that...
Did the Cyatheaceae become such a diverse family slowly over time, or in spurts? The largest molecular sampling yet points to gradual accumulation of species.
Whilst studies on Arabidopsis thaliana have generally been highly molecular and/or genetic in nature, most studies using A. halleri have addressed adaptation and variation in adaptive traits in the species’ natural...
Palms are vitally important due to their high vegetable oil production, which can occur in both fruits and seeds. The full range of lipid storage and composition, however, hasn’t been well understood across this large...
Chromosomes in a hybrid Crocus The New York Times has an informative and thoughtful article by Sean Carroll about interspecific hybrids this week. The article starts with photographs of a range of remarkable animal...
Nickel hyperaccumulation and systematics of Alysseae Nickel (Ni) hyperaccumulation is a rare form of physiological specialization shared by a small number of angiosperms growing on ultramafic soils. Molecular...
Evolution of mycoheterotrophy from mixotrophic ancestors Nutritional changes associated with the evolution of achlorophyllous, mycoheterotrophic plants have not been inferred within a robust phylogenetic framework...
Mixed mating and colonization potential of a fern Environmental change leads to increasing selection pressure on the capacity of plants to colonize new areas. Wubs et al. show that the colonization success of the fern...
In the Mascarenes, a young oceanic archipelago, the Dombeyoideae have extensively diversified and have evolved specific breeding systems compared to the continental species. By constructing a molecular phylogeny, Le...