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Image: Mariana Ruiz Villarreal/Wikimedia Commons.

Chloroplasts are how old???

It is widely acknowledged that eukaryotic cells (you know, the ones with a membrane-bound nucleus and a variety of other membrane-bound organelles (cf. prokaryotes)) came to be so complex by a series of ‘mergers and...

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Fire

Picking up on my elemental theme, fire has long been considered a major influence on evolution of the angiosperms, whether natural or anthropogenic conflagrations. This incendiary interaction has not been helped by...

Image: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen. Gera-Untermhaus, 1897.

Phytonumeracy

Echoing a plea from Ron Milo and Robert Last that computational methods [which is sort of ‘math(s)’…] should be used to gain deeper understanding of the fundamental principles that govern regulation of metabolic...

Image: Vignolini et al.

Pollia pigmentation pooh-poohed

Despite appearances – and often therefore assumptions – to the contrary, the intense blue-colour of the fruit of Pollia condensata is not due to pigment(s). Instead, it is another example of so-called ‘structural...

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Bryophyte ‘sperminator’…

Co-opting animals to help with pollination is a major event in flower (angiosperm) biology – and is very much a do-or-die act. But have you ever considered that a similar role might be performed by animals in the case...

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Vital amines

Notwithstanding plants’ rightly applauded self-sufficiency, and remarkable life-sustaining synthetic abilities using basic inorganic ingredients, some plant-like organisms need a little extra help in the form of organic...

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Lignin and/or suberin? Lignin!

For as long as the Casparian strip (CS) – an impervious component of the endodermal cell wall that blocks the passive flow of water and solutes into the vascular tissues of a plant – has been known (discovery credited...

Image: L. Müeller/C.F. Schmidt, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, edited by Gustav Pabst, 1887.

Pharmacopoeia Shakespeariensis

Continuing the ethnobotanical theme of previous posts, another great source of information regarding folk uses of plants is the writings of the Bard of Avon, England’s very own quillmeister, William Shakespeare. Take...