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Articles on Seeds

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Without spices, our meals would have less color and flavor. Helaine Weide/Moment via Getty Images

How do spices get their flavor?

Humans have figured out how to season their food with virtually every part of plants.
Planting native plant seeds on sand dunes at Westward Beach in Malibu, Calif., to stabilize the dunes. Al Seib / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

A shortage of native seeds is slowing land restoration across the US, which is crucial for tackling climate change and extinctions

Native plants help damaged landscapes by stabilizing soil, fighting invasive species and sheltering pollinators. Two horticulture experts explain what they’re doing to help develop new seed sources.
Walden Pond was Thoreau’s sometimes chilly muse. Lane Turner for The Boston Globe/via Getty Images

5 wintry books to read during long nights

A literature professor suggests some classic reads to curl up with when it is cold.
Soybean plants on an Arkansas farm. Those at left show signs of damage from dicamba; others at right were planted later in the season. Washington Post via Getty Images

The herbicide dicamba was supposed to solve farmers’ weed problems – instead, it’s making farming harder for many of them

Farmers are stuck in a chemical war against weeds, which have developed resistance to many widely used herbicides. Seed companies’ answer – using more varied herbicides – is causing new problems.
A Bohemian waxwing eating mountain ash berries. Lisa Hupp, USFWS/Flickr

With fewer animals to spread their seeds, plants could have trouble adapting to climate change

Forests around the world will need to shift their ranges to adapt to climate change. But many trees and plants rely on animals to spread their seeds widely, and those partners are declining.
A floral scent can be enjoyable for a person, but it has an important job for the flower. Richard L. Harkess

Why do flowers smell?

Not all flowers smell good, to people at least, but their scents are a way to attract pollinators.

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