Taxonomy & Evolution
Taming the beasts: challenges of identification in big plant genera
Digital revolution provides perfect opportunity to identify species.
Ecosystems
Microscopic Engineers: the Beads that Carry the Future of Ecological Restoration
A Brazilian team develops a scalable bioengineering method using alginate beads to deliver mosses, algae, and cyanobacteria for restoring degraded soils.
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Francisco Navarro-Rosales: Studying Plant Resilience in the Cerrado and Beyond
Botany One interviews Francisco Navarro-Rosales, a PhD student fascinated by fire ecology in tropical ecosystems.
Plants & People
When Storms Strike, Dutch Villagers Raise a Shield of Flowers
Some southern villages in the Netherlands continue the ancient practice of protecting their homes with St. John’s bouquets and wreaths. An ethnobotanical survey was recently conducted to understand the species composition and function of these blessed charms.
Plants & People
Bringing Darwin’s Botanical Work Into the Spotlight
Surveying visitors at a major botanical garden reveals a surprising gap in plant evolution knowledge, and a clear opportunity to close it.
The Week in Botany
The Week in Botany October 6, 2025
This week, nature and nurture, the long life of a rose, and Dr. Stefanie Ickert-Bond on the importance of taxonomy.
Ecosystems
Drones can be used to monitor invasive weeds in hard to access habitats
Drones, equipped with automated detection systems, can efficiently survey difficult habitats, enabling targeted management of noxious weeds.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Tiny green factories: how plants could make our medicines
A new process could harness plants natural chemical prowess and allow them to become factories for producing complex molecules like antibodies and enzymes.
Growth & Development
Wild cotton species can handle the heat
Four wild Australian cotton species thrive in high heat, unlike commercial cotton. These wild species could be used to breed heat tolerance into commercial cotton.
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Stefanie Ickert-Bond: A Life Among Gymnosperms
Botany One interviews Dr. Stefanie Ickert-Bond, speaker at the “Evolutionary History of the Gnetales” symposium held during Botany 2025.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Tracing the Single Gene That Gave Modern Roses Their Endless Bloom
Scientists discovered that modern roses’ ability to flower repeatedly comes from a single genetic mutation in Chinese wild roses, and by tracing their family tree, they showed how hybridization with a few wild species created the roses we know today.
Close Encounters
Nature vs nurture: Untangling why mycorrhizal fungal diversity differs across orchid species
Mycorrhizal communities are shaped by orchid trophic mode and biogeography but not orchid phylogeny.