Reviews
Banking on future food security
Carolyn Fry, Sue Seddon and Gail Vines’ The last great plant hunt (2011, published by Kew Publishing at £25.00 in hardback) is difficult to categorise.
Plant Cuttings
CSI Evidential Botanicals, Episode 3: CSI Raptors
Going back almost as far you can with higher plants, we now have a remarkable use of plant-derived exudates that represents the phytopalaentological equivalent of
annals-of-botany
Chromosome number and fruit size in Actinidia
Some otherwise promising selections of Actinidia chinensis (kiwifruit) have fruit that are too small for successful commercialization. Wu et al. induce chromosome doubling using colchicine and
Plant Cuttings
CSI Evidential Botanicals, Episode 2: CSI Amphorae
Taking the whole evidence-gathering issue back many hundreds of years now to an age before cookery books (cookery, a TV-obsession in the UK…). Amongst
annals-of-botany
Mixed bird and wasp pollination systems in Scrophularia
It has generally been considered that the flowers of Scrophularia are mainly pollinated by wasps. Ortega-Olivencia et al. study the four species with the largest
Plant Cuttings
Forensic botany collection
I don’t know what the rest of the world’s TV is like but the USA and the UK– and Denmark– seem obsessed with crime
Plant Cuttings
Phytophoenixism
In biology, matters are rarely either good or bad; oftentimes they may be both at once (albeit usually for different organisms). Take for instance hydrogen cyanide,
annals-of-botany
Control of hydroponic nitrate nutrition (Technical Article)
A strict control of nitrate concentration in hydroponics during long-term experiments requires real-time analyses that cannot be performed manually. Adamowicz et al. describe a
annals-of-botany
Ants mediate plant reproductive traits
The selection of floral and reproductive traits is influenced by the plant’s abiotic environment, florivores and pollinators. Leroy et al. show that mutualistic associations with
annals-of-botany
Calcium sensitivity and guard cells (Invited Review)
Stomatal aperture is regulated by the stress-induced phyto-hormone abscisic acid (ABA), and by CO2 and Ca2+ concentrations. Hubbard et al. review the topic and
Plant Cuttings
Dates for your diary
If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to get more organised in 2012, here is advanced notice of two entries for your diary. First,
annals-of-botany
Carnivorous plants: a review
Carnivory offers plants special advantages in habitats where nutrient supply is scarce, but counterbalancing costs are the investments in the synthesis and maintenance of trapping organs