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Botany

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Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

The Story of How An Artist Created a Genetic Hybrid of Himself and a Petunia

Is it art? Or science? With DNA, Eduardo Kac pushes the limits of creativity and ethics

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The Year’s Most Outstanding Science Visualizations

A juried competition honors photographs, illustrations, videos, posters, games and apps that marry art and science in an evocative way

Red Acorn, 40 years old

Covered in Ink, Cross-sections of Trees Make Gorgeous Prints

Connecticut-based artist Bryan Nash Gill uses ink to draw out the growth rings of a variety of tree species

Beehive ginger

Flower Power, Redefined

In a new book, Andrew Zuckerman embraces minimalism, capturing 150 colorful blooms on white backdrops

Delphinium pergrinum

Amazing Close-Ups of Seeds

A scientist-artist duo creates stunning images, taken through a scanning electron microscope, of seeds in the Millennium Seed Bank

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Nikon Announces the Winners of its “Small World” Competition

See a selection of beautiful images captured by scientists gazing through light microscopes

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Sinfully Delicious Apples That You Should Never Try to Eat

Inspired by the work of Cornell scientists, Los Angeles-based Jessica Rath creates sculptures and photographs of the autumn fruit

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Picture-Perfect Bonsai

In a new book, botanical photographer Jonathan Singer focuses his lens on the potted plants

John Kress, a Smithsonian botanist, suggests Dominica's Morne Trois Pitons National Park for an evolution vacation.

A Smithsonian Botanist Suggests an Evotourism Site

We turned to John Kress, an expert on how plants and birds co-evolved over time, for his pick for an evolution vacation

Tom Mirenda helps maintain the nearly 8,000 orchids in the Smithsonian's collection.

Tom Mirenda on Orchids

The Natural History Museum’s orchid expert talks about the beloved flowers

With steady sunshine and cheap labor, Colombian farms yield $1 billion in exports, dominating the United States market.

The Secrets Behind Your Flowers

Chances are the bouquet you’re about to buy came from Colombia. What’s behind the blooms?

When George Washington visited the Bartram family's prestigious garden near Philadelphia in 1787, he found it to be "not laid off with much taste."

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

Among botanist Robert Fortune's tasks in China was to learn the procedure for manufacturing tea, as shown in this 18th century tea plantation.

The Great British Tea Heist

Botanist Robert Fortune traveled to China and stole trade secrets of the tea industry, discovering a fraud in the process

One of only two plants worldwide that actively trap animal prey, the flytrap is at home in a surprisingly small patch of U.S. soil.

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

"Now it's off to the races," botanist Dave Erickson says of a project to barcode 250 species of plant life on Plummers Island.

Cracking the DNA Code

On a small island near Washington, D.C., Smithsonian researchers have found a genetic code that could revolutionize botany

The 190-mile-long Cahaba River is home to many rare species, some of which were thought to be extinct. The showy Cahaba lily (at Halfmile Shoals) thrives in clean, clear, rapidly flowing water.

The Cahaba: A River of Riches

An unsung Alabama waterway is one of the most biologically diverse places in the nation, home to rare flora and fauna

Jonathan Singer's Botanica Magnifica has earned a spot in the National Museum of Natural History's rare book room.

Flowers Writ Large

With his Botanica Magnifica, podiatrist-turned-photographer Jonathan Singer captures flowers on the grandest of scales

Angel Watkins and co-workers in Colorado blame many culprits in the decline of the Aspen.

What’s Killing the Aspen?

The signature tree of the Rockies is in trouble

Biographer Wade Davis says Schultes approached photography with the "same precision as he did botany."

Photo Find

With a rolleiflex camera, a pioneering botanist documented his fieldwork—and created art

Marine Biological Laboratory research assistant Rich McHorney gets a sample core from the permafrost.

Arctic Dispatch: Thermokarst and Toolik

The team studies consequences of the Arctic’s warming temperatures

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