Taxonomy & Evolution
Small herbaria make outsize contributions
Small herbarium specimens are likely to be unduplicated elsewhere, or found only in other small herbaria.
Taxonomy & Evolution
Pollinators drive floral evolution in an Atlantic Forest genus
Can we use floral traits to accurately predict hummingbird and bat pollinators of the bromeliad genus Vriesea?
Taxonomy & Evolution
A new assessment of Madagascar’s Coffea species shows which traits reflect phylogenetic signal
Flowering phenology appears to have a strong genetic component, and may serve as a barrier to hybridization
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Lessons from Mediterranean olive domestication: keep wild relatives close by and do not “overselect”
New study in the journal BMC Biology found that Mediterranean olives have almost as high genetic diversity as olive cultivars
Taxonomy & Evolution
Flowering plants spelled the end of gymnosperm dominance
Coupled with the negative effects of global cooling, angiosperms pushed gymnosperm extinction past the point of recovery.
Taxonomy & Evolution
Polyploid plants take a leaf out from the invasive species book
The extent to which propagule pressure limits the establishment of local polyploid populations remains to be determined, because we know so little.
Plants & People
State of the World’s Plant & Fungi Collections (Part One)
Plant and fungal collections are seeing new and innovative uses, as well as reaching a broader user-base as digitized specimens, but significant gaps remain.
Taxonomy & Evolution
Complex evolution in an East Asian Magnolia species
Genetic incongruence hints at either ancient hybridization or incomplete lineage sorting.
Taxonomy & Evolution
Systematics of extinct grass species resolved with sequencing of 167-year-old herbarium specimen
The work is part of a trend of increasingly ambitious genetic work on old specimens.
Taxonomy & Evolution
Coordinated evolution of leaf and root anatomy in epiphytes
With both leaves and roots of epiphytes exposed to the atmosphere, can these plants be used as a model to explore co-evolution of root and leaf anatomical traits?
Taxonomy & Evolution
Greater Eucalyptus hybridisation on younger, more disturbed landscapes
Older landscapes are expected to be home to older, more genetically well-defined taxa with greater reproductive barriers.
Computational Models
Floras of the Future: A look at Flora of North America Online
Staying up to date and making all treatments machine-readable will broaden the project’s appeal, but it’s no small feat.