Modern clubmosses (Lycophytes) are a vestige of their gargantuan carboniferous ancestors that dominated the paleoflora flora for millions of years. The group has a broad global distribution ranging from tundra to...
Plants need appropriate amounts of essential nutrients if they are to grow fully and generate the yield of which they are capable. Quite often, however, one of those essentials – principally, nitrogen (N) – is in...
This study identifies saprotrophic mycorrhizal fungi for seven mycoheterotrophic orchid species growing in four humid and warm subtropical forests in Taiwan
One cause of the yield advantage in the 'three sisters' polyculture is that the crops have different, possibly complementary, root foraging strategies.
A paper by Pavlovič et al. has caught my eye this week. Feeding on prey increases photosynthetic efficiency in the carnivorous sundew Drosera capensis has moved into Free Access. I’m used to the idea that...
Silicon (Si) is important in mitigating abiotic and biotic plant stresses, yet many agricultural soils, such as those of the rainfed production areas of the South African sugar industry, are deficient in plant-available...
The growth of unfed D. capensis plants is P-limited, and this limitation is markedly alleviated by feeding on fruit flies, improving plant nutrient status.
In this and my next few posts we conclude our look at essential plant macronutrients that started in some previous articles, and this time concentrate on the last four of the nine elements – C, H, O, P, K, N, S, Ca and...
The reasons for marked differences in growth performance of hemiparasites when attached to different hosts are not fully understood. Li et al. study the responses to inorganic solutes in the absence of a host plant of...