Botany
Corpse Flower Steals the Spotlight at Abandoned California Gas Station
A local nursery owner grew the rare botanical wonder and shared the bloom with the community, where they could touch and interact with the plant
Why Plants Are Seeding Climate Studies
The National Museum of Natural History’s herbarium is helping botanists research climate-driven changes in plants, their biology and their abundance
What Fossil Plants Reveal About Climate Change
Paleobiologists use fossil plants to reconstruct Earth’s past climate and inform climate change research today.
Indigenous Peoples in British Columbia Tended 'Forest Gardens'
Found near villages, research suggests the Indigenous population intentionally planted and maintained these patches of fruit and nut trees
Around the World in Eight Plants
A new book takes readers on a journey across our planet, stopping to smell flowers and appreciate other species along the way
How the Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Spurred the Evolution of the Modern Rainforest
New evidence from fossil plants shows today’s South American rainforests arose in the wake of Earth’s fifth mass extinction
Watch First Time-Lapse Footage of a Rare Moonflower Cactus Blossoming
The rare Amazonian cactus blooms only once a year for 12 hours
The Biology of Mistletoe
Best known as a holiday trimming, the parasitic plant is a botanical luminary in its own right
Behold the World's Ugliest Orchid, According to Botanists
Surprisingly, the plant’s fleshy, brown flowers don't smell so bad
How Ancient DNA Unearths Corn's A-Maize-ing History
New study shows how extracting whole genomes from ancient material opens the door for new research questions and breathes new life into old samples
Our Thanksgiving Menu Has Lost a Few Crops
Studying the domestication of any crop that people once ate helps scientists reveal how modern crops have evolved
Parasitic Plant Waits for Host’s Signal Before Flowering
Dodders grow into tangled masses of leafless tendrils also called wizard’s net and strangleweed
Structural Complexity Gives This Fruit Its Metallic Blue Color
The super blue viburnum fruit gets its hue not just from blue pigment, but from the structure of its fat
How a Few Sick Tobacco Plants Led Scientists to Unravel the Truth About Viruses
With the COVID-19 coronavirus causing a global pandemic, a look back at the scientists who figured out viruses and their relationship to disease
Not All Cherry Blossoms Are the Same
View these vivid illustrations by Japanese artist Kōkichi Tsunoi of the varieties of trees presented to the United States in 1912
You Can Now Download 150,000 Free Illustrations of the Natural World
The artworks, collected by the open-access Biodiversity Heritage Library, range from animal sketches to historical diagrams and botanical studies
Space Farmers Could Grow Crops in Lunar and Martian Soil, Study Suggests
With a little added organic matter, dusty lunar and Martian soil simulants produced tomatoes, rye, radishes and other crops in the lab
Researchers Discover the Tallest Known Tree in the Amazon
Satellite images and a trek into the rainforest reveal a group of trees over 80 meters, or about 260 feet, and one as tall as 88.5 meters
Once Thought to Be Extinct, This Lucky Clover Has Recovered Enough to Come Off the Endangered List
Running Buffalo Clover, which once spread on trampled ground left by bison, has made a comeback in the Midwest and Appalachians
The Hard-Drinking Early Smithsonian Naturalists of the Megatherium Club
William Stimpson created a fraternity of young scientists and named it for an extinct North American sloth
Page 3 of 9