News in Brief
The parasitic plant Cuscuta sets up barriers to some minerals when infecting a host
If the parasitic plant dodder taps its host with a straw, then it’s a specialised straw than can filter out some nutrients that the plant isn’t using.
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How fire may burn forests into scrubland
Forests that have coped with fires in the past may struggle to regenerate as climate change increases aridity in the Mediterranean Basin.
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How do mangrove forests recover from cyclones?
What happens when cyclones hit mangroves? What happens when there are repeated impacts? Ken Krauss and Michael Osland have been looking at the scientific research to find out.
News in Brief
Adaptability is not always positive for plants tackling climate change
Becoming an early flowering plant may be a problem if your pollinators are asleep and your herbivores are not.
annals-of-botany
The best way to grow strong upright rose stems is to bend them over
Bending rose stems dramatically increases photosynthesis.
News in Brief
The shape of leaves may be a defence against weevil attack
It’s not just taste and texture. One weevil may be using origami to find the best home for its offspring.
annals-of-botany
Flowers evolve to balance the risks and rewards of self-pollination
The longer a plant waits to self-pollinate, the longer it has to attract pollen from outside. But waiting too long can have consequences.
News in Brief
One way to kill a dangerous pest could be to encourage it to grow
Striga is a parastic plant that lurks beneath the soil waiting to strike another plant root. Strangely it might be more effective to control the weed by making it germinate, than try to keep it dormant.
annals-of-botany
PtHMGR overexpression enhances tolerance of salt and drought
Overexpression of PtHMGR enhanced the stress resistance of poplar.
News in Brief
How do you measure a tree’s flammability without burning it?
Forest fires are a problem, but how do you measure a tree’s flammability? New research suggests you look to the shoots, not the leaves.
annals-of-botany
Where did the first flowers grow?
Botanists have tried to understand the conditions that led to the evolution of the first flowers by reconstructing the niches from which the earliest flowering plants diverged.
annals-of-botany
What factors make a deadly carrot so dangerous?
The deadly carrot might sound as likely as the killer tomato, but decoding the defences of Thapsia garganica might have a big pay-off in the future.