Plant Cuttings

Plant scientists are essential to help provide solutions to three of the most important current and future threats to mankind’s existence on the planet – food security, water supply and climate change. But as universities close plant biology courses we have to ask: Where are those plant scientists t

Flowering plants have had an intim­ate rela­tion­ship with insects for mil­lions of years. Indeed, this is often cited as an example of co-evolution , par­tic­u­larly with regards to the flowers and their pol­lin­a­tion by the insects. However, this has also given parasites millions of years to adap

A study of half a million Chinese participants found that those who ate chilli peppers at least twice a week had a 10% reduced mortality rate, while those who consumed them 6-7 days a week had a 14% reduction.

If you can’t wait until next month to get your fix of all that’s best in plant news (yes, in the Annals’ Plant Cuttings column – the one you’re read­ing now!), don’t worry there’s a new source to sat­isfy your crav­ing.

How well will plants – and plant-like organ­isms – func­tion with rising concentrations of levels of atmo­spheric CO2? And how will the increases in temperatures – asso­ci­ated with cli­mate change/global warm­ing – affect them? Given the import­ance of mar­ine phyto­plank­ton organ­isms to global p

Could leaves be causing communication chaos in modern life?

Today we bring you a veritable feast of botanically inspired, environmentally friendly projects and ideas, which may just influence our future lives!

This article focuses on the possible advent of human agriculture occurring 23,000 years BP.

Could your knowledge of botany be a gateway to undiscovered riches?