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International Botanical Congress 18 Melbourne #IBC18
This week, a good proportion of the world’s botanists will be meeting in Australia for the 6-yearly International Botanical Congress. Actually, the hard work
Ecosystems
Ecosystems, services and understanding human-environment relations
Ecosystem services are not a meaningful framework of interpretation of human-environment relations for the vast majority of people, although the term has gained traction in
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Novel border-like cells in woody plant roots
Novel border-like cells in woody plant roots Root border cells play a critical role in root growth and microbial association, although their detachment patterns are
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Jonathan Drori: The beautiful tricks of flowers
In this visually dazzling talk, Jonathan Drori shows the extraordinary ways flowering plants – over a quarter million species – have evolved to attract insects to spread their pollen: growing ‘landing-strips’ to guide the insects in, shining in ultraviolet, building elaborate traps, and even mimicki
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Appealing Botany
As a follow up to the news about the end of the Botany degree in the UK and the discussion on Facebook, I’ve been trying
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Love and Flowers: When analogies break down
I’ve learned a lot from a new article in AoB PLANTS, the Open Access sister Journal to Annals of Botany. It’s Green love talks;
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Plants as Persons: A Philosophical Botany
Plants are people too? Well, before you put in the call to have me taken me away, let me explain where I’m coming from. Way
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Phriday Photo: Wollemi Pine
I was in London earlier this week for an editorial meeting with many of the Annals of Botany members. As part of it, I took my
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Improving lives through research on banana biodiversity
Numerous communities in developing countries depend on bananas as a staple food and as a source of income. The vast majority of producers are smallholder farmers
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Networks, systems biology and data analysis
In my research, I always seem to be somewhere near the extremes of having too much data or not having enough data to address the questions
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Botany: A Blooming History
Last night at 9pm hell froze over – the BBC broadcast a programme about plant taxonomy on a mainstream TV network. Did you see it? I thought
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Early summer and the hedgerows: elderflower champagne
Early summer brings the elderflower (Sambucus nigra, either a variable species or a species complex) into flower in hedgerows, woodland openings and waste ground throughout Europe.