Reviews
For fans of fungi – The magic of mushrooms
The Magic of Mushrooms: Fungi in folklore, superstition and traditional medicine, Sandra Lawrence, 2022. Welbeck, in partnership with RBG Kew. How much do you know about
Ecosystems
Unexpected responses to wildfire by seedlings in the Yukon
Fire-adapted trees should be able to take advantage of wildfires, but on the boundary between the boreal forest and the tundra, something odd is happening.
News in Brief
An orchid gives assistance, forests reduced persistence, and weeds’ electrical resistance
Botanists uncover the reason for an orchid’s delicate shape, deforestation is probably worse than you thought, and a test of killing weeds without herbicide.
Plants & People
Dutch Scientists Learn How to Get Better Botanical Data from the Public
Instead of complaining about the limits of volunteer work, some Dutch botanists have found how to improve their understanding of data from citizen scientists.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
The benefits of a network view of selection response for complex traits
A new gene-to-phenotype network for shoot branching.
News in Brief
A nose becomes fancier, an armyworm answer, and plants against cancer
Scientists take different approaches to tackle crop pests, and a well-known plant produces a protein that inhibits tumour growth in mammals.
Reviews
Greening the next generation
The Green Planet by Leisa Stewart–Sharpe and Kim Smith, 2022. Puffin Books (an imprint of the Penguin Random House group of companies). Not so long
Ecosystems
When invasive plants move in, where do native pollinators go?
Invasive plants change the opportunities for pollinators, helping some but harming others.
Close Encounters
Where does a hemiparasite’s food come from?
A parasitic plant’s ability to steal carbon rests in their haustoria, specialised organs they use to tap into a host plant.
Ecosystems
Every day is like Christmas for some declining farmland birds
Novel agriculture provides a refuge for some birds driven out of traditional farmland.
Computational Models
Video-based measurements of maize stalk movement
Measuring the impact of brace roots on lodging resistance in maize.
Growth & Development
Tree buds need cosy blankets for the spring rather than the winter
It may be that buds in winter are ‘on pause’ and they are in fact prepared to protect their contents in the changeable spring weather.