Plants
Types of plants, including flowers, trees, water plants and weeds- Explore more »
UPDATED: Priceless Russian Fruit Plant Collection Faces Demolition
The concept of collecting and protecting seeds and plants for research and to preserve biodiversity got its start in Russia. Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov created the world's first seed bank, collecting fruit and vegetable seeds from across five continents during the 1920s and 30s. By World War ...
August 09, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Meet the New Species
From old-world primates to patch-nosed salamanders, new creatures are being discovered every day
August 2010 |
By Richard Conniff
Top 10 Science Volunteer Positions Around the Smithsonian
In 2009, nearly 6,700 volunteers labored for well over half a million hours for the Smithsonian Institution. “I feel pretty confident in saying the Smithsonian has one of the largest (if not THE largest) volunteer base of any cultural organization in the world,” Amy Lemon, coordinator of Smithsonia...
July 22, 2010 |
By Brandon Springer
Hidden Frog, A Photo Contest Winner
The results of Smithsonian's 7th Annual Photo Contest were announced earlier this week. The winner in the Natural World category, Hidden frog (above), was taken last September by Laurie McAndish King of Novato, California:King was experimenting with a new camera in a local Mendocino County garden ...
May 21, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
American Wines With Native Vines?
First it was pet turtles and now it’s wine grapes—I just can’t stop thinking about what it means to be native. The United States ferments 700 million gallons of wine each year, most of it from the sugary mash of Vitis vinifera, a grape species imported from the Old World. Yet North America boasts a...
May 20, 2010 |
By Brendan Borrell
Filoli: Garden of a Golden Age
Filoli—a lavish early 20th century estate that is the last of its kind—harks back to when San Francisco’s richest families built to dazzle
May 2010 |
By Andrew Purvis
The Animals, Vegetables and Minerals of the States
Wisconsin legislators last week voted on a new state symbol; the official state microbe is now Lactococcus lactis, the bacterium used to make cheddar, Colby and Monterey Jack cheeses. As far as I can tell, Wisconsin will be the first state to declare an official state microbe. Plenty of states have...
April 19, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Beauty, and Usefulness, of Pollen
Spring may be beautiful, but all those blooming flowers and trees bring on pollen allergies, making eyes water and noses drip. But pollen can be both beautiful and useful (counterfeit malaria drugs were traced, in part, through pollen). In this TED Talk from February, Jonathan Drori of the BBC reve...
April 13, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Story of Bartram's Garden
Outside of Philadelphia, America's first botanical garden once supplied seeds to Founding Fathers and continues to inspire plant-lovers today
April 13, 2010 |
By Robin T. Reid
Smithsonian's Amazing Natural History Collections
Last week I got to look behind the scenes of the entomology collection at the National Museum of Natural History. I learned how the collection of insects and spiders, one of the world's largest, is used by Smithsonian and Department of Agriculture scientists to help port inspectors identify potenti...
April 12, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Aftermath of the Snow at the Smithsonian
It has certainly been an unprecedented winter here in Washington, D.C., where a grand total of 54.9 inches of snow had fallen as of February 10, breaking the previous seasonal snowfall record set in 1898-99.So how has the Smithsonian been affected? Now that the skies and the streets are clear, we h...
February 23, 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
When the Soviet Union Chose the Wrong Side on Genetics and Evolution
Science cannot long remain unfettered in a social system which seeks to exercise control over the whole spiritual and intellectual life of a nation. The correctness of a scientific theory can never by adjudged by its readiness to give the answers desired by political leadership.--Charles A. Leone, ...
February 01, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Venus Flytrap's Lethal Allure
Native only to the Carolinas, the carnivorous plant that draws unwitting insects to its spiky maw now faces dangers of its own
February 2010 |
By Abigail Tucker
Another Downside to Your Classic Green Lawn
We should all know by now that lawns of green grass aren't so "green" for the environment. Keeping turf from turning brown wastes water; people use too much pesticide and herbicide, toxic chemicals that can contaminate the fish we eat and water we drink. And keeping lawns at a reasonable height bu...
January 21, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Birds and the Bees and the...Crickets?
Orchids of the Angraecum genus are famous—in evolutionary biology, at least—because of the comet orchid, A. sesquipedale, of Madagascar. After Charles Darwin examined this orchid, he hypothesized in 1862 that, based on the length of the flower's nectar-spur, there would be a a moth with an equally ...
January 14, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Can Rain Start a Forest Fire?
Gardening Web sites tell you not to water during the day for fear of scorching your plants. Some have speculated that raindrops might even be able to act like a magnifying glass and focus sunlight to set a leaf on fire. Are they right?A group of scientists in Hungary and Germany set out to discover...
January 12, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Ten Plants That Put Meat on Their Plates
In addition to the well-known Venus flytrap, many other plant species feed on bugs or crustaceans
January 08, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Picture of the Week--Spiny Sowthistle
The spiny sowthistle (Sonchus asper) is a flowering plant that grows up to three feet tall and sprouts small yellow flowers. A native of Europe, it's an invasive weed here in the United States. If you found it in your garden, you'd pull it out or attack it with weedkiller.Gerd A. Guenther of Düssel...
October 16, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Top Ten Places Where Life Shouldn't Exist... But Does
Smithsonian lists the most improbable, inhospitable and absurd habitats on Earth
October 13, 2009 |
By Laura Helmuth
Amazing Living Root Bridges in India
In the United States, the lowly ficus sits quietly in the corners of our homes and offices, providing some much needed greenery and oxygen to our indoor spaces. But in the northeastern Indian state of Meghalaya, where Ficus elastica are large, native outdoor trees that live near water, the local pe...
September 17, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
