The Week in Botany
The Week in Botany September 22, 2025
This week, scary bodyguards, local references and why you should treat plants with kindness.
Plants & People
The Global Shift To Keep Holotypes Closer to Home
By tracing where the world’s most valuable specimens are stored, scientists uncover a story of colonial history and, hopefully, a more inclusive future for botany.
Growth & Development
Spikelet morphology in Restionaceae is more diverse than previously thought
Scientists have studied the morphology of male and female Leptocarpus denmarkicus spikelets, offering new insights into the evolutionary plasticity of flower development and seed dispersal within the Poales.
featured
Gláucia Silva: “Show Plants with Kindness, Respect and Interest”
Botany One interviews Gláucia Silva, a Brazilian PhD Student passionate for passion fruits and sparking the botanical interest of their students.
Ecosystems
When your bodyguard keeps lovers away
New research reveals how ant bodyguards can scare off pollinators yet still sustain plant reproduction.
The Week in Botany
The Week in Botany September 15, 2025
This week extraordinary fungal knowledge, violas that survive arsenic, and Ramiro Aguilar on the importance of observation.
Close Encounters
Invasive Species Outperform Natives by Flowering Out of Season
A new study reveals how off-season flowering helps invasive plants outcompete native species.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Thriving in Allchar: Arsenic and Thallium Tolerance in Viola Species
Viola metallophytes have evolved the rare capacity to tolerate toxic metals, allowing them to thrive in the harsh soils of Allchar, North Macedonia. Scientists now know that two closely related Viola species have evolved different tolerance mechanisms – opening up an interesting case of convergent e
featured
Ramiro Aguilar: “Plants Are the Most Incredible Organisms”
Botany One interviews Dr. Ramiro Aguilar, who was sponsored by Annals of Botany to speak at ATBC 2025.
Plants & People
How the Tlahuica-Pjiekakjoo Keep Their Mycological Heritage Thriving
A decade-long collaboration reveals how an endangered Indigenous group holds unparalleled knowledge of wild fungi, and how they’re passing it on to future generations.
The Week in Botany
The Week in Botany September 8, 2025
This week, a loss of immunity, a gain of parasites and untold stories of plant evolution.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Parasitic plants help build lignin deposits in host tissues
Their unknown function in developing hausteria remains to be uncovered.