Flowers may seem fragile but they are ancient.
Kichigin/Shutterstock
The origin date for flowers is a source of debate among scientists – but a new approach may help bring clarity to the question.
The red berries of the underground palm are just visible at the soil surface.
Agusti Randi
A recently discovered palm tree has an unusual survival strategy - it flowers and fruits beneath the ground
Nikita M production/Shutterstock
Scientists are still trying to puzzle out strange oscillations in plant root genes,
italianestro/Shutterstock
Plants aren’t always as good at photosynthesis as you might think. Our research project wants to help them.
Crop Science Centre, University of Cambridge
Farming has made crop plants reliant on synthetic fertilisers, but we can reactivate their ability to engage with beneficial microorganisms and make them more independent.
Rhododendrons look pretty but there is so much more to them.
Richard Milne
Some rhododendron fossils are 60 million years old, showing they were around before the Himalayas were formed.
Zamurovic Brothers/Shutterstock
The fossil record tells conflicting stories about what happened to flowering plants after the asteroid.
A bumblebee flying over a blooming bramble bush.
Legonkov Vladimir
Native common wildflowers provide large amounts of pollen and nectar for insects – but many are undervalued by the public.
The spiky branches of a monkey puzzle tree.
Joshua Bruce Allen/Shutterstock
The arrangement of leaves on most plants follows a mathematical pattern – new research sheds light on how it evolved.
Rimma Bondarenko/Shutterstock
Why plants’ oscillating genes matter for humans.
Macromitrium microstomum is found throughout New Zealand on the trunks or branches of smooth-barked trees, or on rock.
Silvia Pressel
Take a moment to consider the natural beauty of mosses – and their history as some of the most intrepid explorers in Earth’s history.
Purple saxifrage, snow pearlwort and drooping saxifrage (left to right).
Sarah Watts
Why we need to pay more attention to these minute flowers and how they survive in some of the harshest places in the world.
Tobacco plants produce sounds at a frequency outside the human hearing range.
S.Phoophinyo/Shutterstock
Just because you can’t hear plants doesn’t mean they are silent.
Elvira Tursynbayeva/Shutterstock
Before you reach for the weed killer, spare a thought for struggling pollinators.
Stock-Asso/Shutterstock
If you’re reading this over a mug of tea or coffee, you’re using plants to alter your body chemistry.
Soil was key to making the Earth habitable.
EyeEm / Alamy Stock Photo
What fossil records tell us about when the Earth was first covered by plants.
Poppies in a cereal field.
Jordi Recasens Guinjuan
Although they can cause severe crop losses, some species and their seeds also contribute to the provision of ecosystem services.
Some houseplants are better than others at lifting our spirits.
adriaticfoto/Shutterstock
Houseplants can lift our spirits – but not all plants have the same effect.
More of us now own indoor plants.
Dmitry Marchenko/Alamy Stock Photo
New research finds that some common houseplants take in nutrients from outside the soil.
Ian Rotherham
Atlantic rainforests once lined the island’s west coast – and could one day return.