Iridoplasts, out of the shadows at last
Why can you find colourful plants, where they’re hardest to see? Iridoplasts, an overlooked plastid, improve photosynthesis and look great while doing it.
Nigel Chaffey
600 posts
I am a Botanist and former Senior Lecturer in Botany at Bath Spa University (Bath, near Bristol, UK). As News Editor for the Annals of Botany I contributed the monthly Plant Cuttings column to that in
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Super silk and mine-detectors
Modern materials get solve long-standing problems, when they get a helping hand from plants.
Latin name or scientific name, where do you stand?
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, said Shakespeare – who clearly hadn’t met any botanists.
Toxin-tainted submarine snow
Human pollution of the seas is turning a gentle rain of food in the marine abyss into something nastier.
![Peter Barlow, a true Renaissance man [14th August, 1942 – 26th January, 2017]](/content/images/size/w2000/botany-one/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ed-peter.jpg)
The lachrymatory tale of the barnacle and the bacterium
For Valentine’s Day Nigel Chaffey finds a tale of an unlikely couple who have set up home together, though it ends in tears.
Tree rings stop cell division in plants
This week Nigel Chaffey finds he has a vision problem that needs more than a trip to the optician.
‘Buckthorn Baggie’ bests buckthorn [Or, invasive aliens, we’ve got them covered, too!]
This week Nigel Chaffey finds a gentler way to kill a plant.
Desert plants, got ’em covered…
This week Nigel turns his dry wit on desert plants, and finds a cuticle full of charm.
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