New research suggests insects have pollinated flowers since the pollen-bearing blooms first evolved more than 140 million years ago.
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Articles on Botany
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Whether riding on the feathers of birds or evolving on Gondwana, Australia’s plants got here in very different ways
As we approach the start of gardening season, it’s a good time to ask some questions about what to plant and who gets to plant.
An expert’s tips on how to keep your indoor plants looking their best.
The large, iconic leaves of monstera can now be found everywhere in popular culture – from fabric prints and earrings to tattoos and mugs. What makes monstera special and how do you keep one healthy?
Many beloved wildflowers bloom in early spring, while trees are still bare and the flowers have access to sunlight. Climate change is throwing trees and wildflowers out of sync.
They’re beautiful in bloom, but Callery pear trees crowd out native plants and turn productive open land into woody thickets.
New research finds that some common houseplants take in nutrients from outside the soil.
Millions of years before dinosaur footsteps first set tremors through the Earth, this flowering plant family was already thriving – and you can still find them in gardens today.
Carefully squeezing plant leaves can reveal how much water they contain – and touch could reveal many other hard-to-measure properties of plants.
Botany is disappearing from university modules in the UK.
Take note, future colonisers: you may be able to grow stuff in certain places on the Moon.
New research shows that coast redwood trees have a surprising adaptation that helps them thrive in both wet and dry environments.
Plants need light to feed themselves, so they grow in ways that help them collect as much of it as they can. Sometimes that’s straight up, but not always.
David Attenborough’s new BBC documentary The Green Planet shows plants are stranger than they first appear.
Eucalyptusdom is a testament to the utilitarian and cultural life of a remarkable tree.
When a plant is stressed, it mobilises its resources and often converts its starch reserves back to sugar. As soon as this happens, the stressed plant becomes sweeter than its healthier neighbours.
The phenomenon is called heliotropism, and sunflowers are most famous for it. But why do they track the sun? And how?
Spring is rapidly approaching and many birds are hunting for the best nesting sites. Competition is fierce — especially for species that nest in tree hollows.
It’s no coincidence that more books about trees are popping up. There is an air of desperation in new books by Peter Wohllben, Janine Burke and others.
Top contributors
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Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne
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Professeur, Biologie et Biochimie végétales, IUF, Université de Lorraine
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Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Grinnell College
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Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide and Chief Botanist, State Herbarium of South Australia, University of Adelaide
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Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University
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Research Associate Professor in Evolutionary Biology, The University of Western Australia
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Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences, Emory University
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Senior Zoologist and Botanical Curator, Queensland Herbarium
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Australia’s Chief Scientist, Office of the Chief Scientist
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Henslow Research Fellow, University of Cambridge
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Senior Lecturer in Chemistry, University of Birmingham
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Lecturer in Classical Studies, The Open University
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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
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Senior Research Professor, Curtin University
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Associate Professor in Ecology and Evolution, UNSW Sydney
