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Go Fungal!
It’s a belated present, the PDF of the handout we’ve been using on stands for Botany One.
News in Brief
Reading the fingerprints on your nuts
Are you getting the hazelnuts you pay for? How do you know? A new technique offers an alternative to subjective tests like flavour.
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Can carnivorous plants control an invasive hornet?
Betteridge’s law of headlines states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” But some scientists in France have tested Sarracenia to find the answer is more like ‘not yet’.
News in Brief
A changing climate can help exotic plants escape gardens
Plants brought in by gardeners for horticultural reasons can turn invasive. Research published by an international team from the US, Europe and China finds that climate change could increase the competitiveness of non-naturalized species.
News in Brief
Spanish mistletoe travels
Mistletoe is said to ward off evil, but it cannot ward off climate change. However, a new study from Spain shows it might be able to escape the worst for a while.
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Pitcher plants eat their spider competitors
Some spiders go after the same prey that pitcher plants want. What happens when the two compete?
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Botanists set the relationship status of Plants, Pollinators and Antagonists to “It’s complicated”
What happens when a flower is eaten or pollinated? A study in the American Journal of Botany shows one interaction can impact in an unexpected way on another.
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Virus gives light a dark side
What is it that causes a virus to replicate? A team studying Coccolithovirus in algae found light was a crucial element in reproduction.
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Aldrovanda vesiculosa, the Fly Trap’s endangered cousin
The Venus Fly Trap is not the only carnivorous plant that snaps, but you’re much less likely to see Aldrovanda vesiculosa, even though it can live around the world.
News in Brief
A puzzle with uniform flowers
Normally you would expect organs to change across evolutionary time. However, this is not always the case, and some clades can be species-rich, but still have very similar flowers.
annals-of-botany
Plant growth promotion by bacterial volatiles
We know that plants produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for a variety of reasons. One obvious example is a perfume to attract pollinators, but they’re
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Plant Pathologists are heroes
Understanding an imaginary virus could have real consequences.