Scientists used DNA to create a family tree of New Caledonia's unique palm trees and discover how they arrived on the islands over many millions of years through long distance travel and evolving to different...
Tag - phylogeny
Renata Cantoro
Red flowers, short stamens, and acetoin: the secret to attracting fungus gnats
Fungus gnats like red flowers with short stamens and a strong smell of acetoin, and scientists found that Euonymus plants have evolved these traits to attract these flies for pollination.
Settling the debate: Plum ‘yews’ are in a separate family to yews
New genomic study assembled the plastid genomes of plum yews to understand their evolution.
Juniper Kiss
Are a few, large seeds or many, small seeds a better strategy for a plant?
For the first time, estimates of comparative seed yield and number for over 800 annuals and their predictor equations have been produced and the ecological importance of these regenerative traits has been illustrated.
How do some plants become flammable? Insights from Dracophyllum
Why would a plant not frequently exposed to fire evolve to burn well?
Liam Elliott
Single copy genes produce a clearer phylogeny of the Apioideae
Analysis of over 3300 single copy genes has produced a well-supported topology with some significant changes.
Erin Zimmerman
Scaly Tree Ferns Have Slow and Steady Diversification
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.
Fi Gennu
A diversity of lipid composition in the seeds and fruits of the palm family
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...
A new biological species in the Mercurialis annua polyploid complex
In eastern Spain (and many other places if you look) you can find Mercurialis annua, a plant with a complicated sex life. A new paper by Wen-Juan Ma and colleagues examine two polyploid species that formed after...
Alun Salt
The diversity and evolution of pollination systems in the Apocynaceae
Interactions between flowering plants and their pollinators are known to be responsible for part of the tremendous diversity of the angiosperms, currently thought to number at least 350,000 species. Using a new database...
Alex Assiry
Where does scent go when attraction doesn’t matter?
Scent matters. If you’re a flowering plant, scent is an important tool for attracting pollinators. It’s no surprise that botanists see it as a vital feature when studying pollination. But what happens when...
Thirty clues to the exceptional diversification of flowering plants
As angiosperms became one of the megadiverse groups of macroscopic eukaryotes, they forged modern ecosystems and promoted the evolution of extant terrestrial biota. Unequal distribution of species among lineages...
Molecular systematics and stamen diversity of Salvia in East Asia
Salvia is the largest genus within Lamiaceae, with about 980 species currently recognized. East Asia, with approx. 100 species, is one of the three major biodiversity centres of Salvia. However, relationships within...
Epizoochory and diversification of the Achyranthoids (Amaranthaceae)
Many African genera of the Amaranthaceae exhibit unique inflorescences that include sterile flowers modified to hooks or spines. Considering that the abundance of large terrestrial herbivores increased on the African...
botanyone