The Week in Botany
The Week in Botany August 4, 2025
This week we have a plant that’s gone its own way, how you can know a tree as an individual and Duarte Figueiredo on the hidden complexity of plant biology.
Taxonomy & Evolution
Potato Origin Mystery Solved
“Our findings show how a hybridization event between species can spark the evolution of new traits, allowing even more species to emerge. We’ve finally solved the mystery of where potatoes came from.” – Sanwen Huang
Ecosystems
River dykes are “insect highways” for wild bees
Dykes are a lifeline for bees. Researchers found nearly half of all Dutch bee species live on river dykes, with 10% being endangered red-listed species.
News in Brief
Ancient liverwort gene unlocks secret of plant cloning
Scientists cracked how plants reproduce without sex. The finding could improve crops and on Earth and beyond. But the key to this discovery comes from a plant that annoys many gardeners.
Ecosystems
Heavy Metal aids a plant invasion
New research shows how an invasive plant in China is using copper and lead pollution to oust its native neighbours.
The Week in Botany
The Week in Botany July 28, 2025
This week we have a project to spotlight women’s role in botany, an interview with Ana Bedoya and her work on aquatic plants, and why flowers are about more than pollinators.
Growth & Development
The plants that photosynthesise to a deadline
In the forest understorey, Spring fires the starting gun on a race to catch sunlight before the forest canopy fills. But changing climates means different plants now start at different times.
Growth & Development
500 kilometres from friends, these trees are running out of places to hide from climate change
How can isolated trees survive rising heat? Botanists have been looking for microrefugia, small locations with favorable conditions for stressed plants.
Ecosystems
Silence of the Llanos
Botanists are hearing an alarm call alerting the world to habitat loss in Colombia, but it’s not a noise that they hear, it’s silence caused by vanishing bird calls marking lost ecosystems.
The Week in Botany
The Week in Botany July 21, 2025
This week we have gossip from the rhizosphere, why eating melons takes a lot of aardvark, a plant that caters to different pollinators at different times, and more.
Ecosystems
What 17,000 Pressed Flowers Revealed About Arctic Climate Change
The brief Arctic summer is getting briefer. Research using herbaria shows that flowering times are shifting. Not all plants are responding the same way & that’s a problem.
Plants & People
Plant Thieves Target Everything From Gardens to Botanic Collections
Insurance data suggests plant theft is increasing, spanning local garden crime to international poaching networks threatening conservation efforts and botanic gardens.