Tag - American Journal of Botany

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Golden gypsum crystals

Thirsty? Then suck on a stone!

Whilst it is claimed that only the taxman can get blood out of a stone, it seems that some plants can abstract water from stone-like minerals. Arguably, ahead of light, water is the most important abiotic factor that...

Image: Mariana Ruiz Villarreal/Wikimedia Commons.

Feel the force!

Plants are remarkably sensitive to their environment, responding by appropriate growth and development to a wide range of environmental stimuli. In the case of gravity, the appropriate response is for stems to grow...

Straightening out the Palmaceae

Straightening out the Palmaceae

As one of the most obvious indications of growth, you might have thought that there was little new to discover about increase in length of plant stems. Wrong! Studying growth in Iriartea deltoidea (Arecaceae), Heidi...

Image: Becker & Marin (2009)

Proof of phytological principle

Sadly, we don’t have time machines that would permit us to go back and see ancient evolution in action. So we have to make do with such devices and stratagems as inference, surmise, speculation, good honest-to-goodness...