Articles tagged as Botany | Smithsonian Magazine

One of the rarest orchids east of the Mississippi, the small-whorled pogonia, emerges from a long dormancy when there is an abundance of specific fungi in the soil.

A Mystery of Hiding Orchids, Solved

Smithsonian scientists have discovered what triggers the rare small-whorled pogonia to awaken from dormancy

January 19, 2017

House and Cedar-Lined Walk in Mist, October 2003

American South

Get Lost in the Landscape That Inspired William Faulkner’s Greatest Novels

A new book of photography brings the late author’s Mississippi homestead to life

January 9, 2017

Cool Finds

The Fight to Save Thousands of Heirloom Apple Trees

There’s more to apples than the supermarket selection may suggest

December 23, 2016

Turtle grass may rely on tiny crustaceans as pollinators.

Meet the Newly Discovered Pollinators Under the Sea

The tiny crustaceans are challenging previous assumptions about how plants grow underwater

December 5, 2016

Dry conditions have dulled fall's gorgeous New England show.

Parched conditions in New England equal milder colors

October 25, 2016

Weeping Window will travel throughout the U.K. through 2018.

Europe

How the Poppy Came to Symbolize World War I

Red blooms help the world commemorate a bloody war

October 20, 2016

These flowers may look beautiful, but in the imagination of Tamiko Thiel, they've turned hostile due to climate change.

Cool Finds

Augmented Reality Art Imagines What Could Be Seattle’s Weird, Bleak Future

Artist envisions mutant flowers and drone-like seaweed that may one day take over a post-climate change Seattle

September 19, 2016

New Research

Research Reveals How and Why Sunflowers Turn Their Golden Heads

A new study shows sunflowers have an internal clock and face east to keep bees and other insects happy

August 5, 2016

These tropical flowers only bloom once every four to five years

July 27, 2016

The Mertz Library hosts one of the world's largest collections of material about plants.

Cool Finds

Go Inside New York’s Nearly Secret Botanical Library

It’s a gardener’s fragrant fantasy

July 15, 2016

The Keukenhof Floral Park in Lisse, The Netherlands.

Where to See Thousands and Thousands of Tulips

From the Netherlands to Kashmir, get lost in tulip mania

Updated: May 13, 2016 | Originally Published: March 24, 2015

A Show of Over 6,000 Orchids Celebrates a Victorian-Era Obsession

Succumb to “Orchidelirium” at The New York Botanical Garden

April 6, 2016

Perhaps Magnolia rzedowskiana should be renamed Magnolia interneta.

Cool Finds

Two New Flower Species Were Discovered Online

These naturalists didn’t know one another—but that didn’t keep them from discovering two new magnolias together

March 21, 2016

Crops certainly can be grown in the popular Hollywood stand-in for Mars, the valley Wadi Rum in southern Jordan.

New Research

Move Over Matt Damon: Scientists Grow Ten Crops In Faux Martian Soil

A new experiment shows that with a little help, soil on Mars could readily support agriculture

March 9, 2016

This flower isn't just a pretty face—its the first one ever grown in space.

Cool Finds

Check Out the First Flower Grown in Space

It was a close call for this brilliant orange zinnia

January 18, 2016

Opuntia cacti grow in the desert near Twentynine Palms, California. The area is home to plenty of dry plants and weeds—perfect for the city's annual Weed Show.

At This Unique Flower Show, Weeds Are the Stars

The women of this small desert town have found beauty in getting in the weeds

October 22, 2015

Cool Finds

Competitive Tree Climbing Is a Thing

It’s on, arborists

September 17, 2015

Visitors get a load of a blooming corpse flower in Basel, Switzerland in 2013. A similar flower failed to launch in Chicago this weekend.

After failing to bloom as planned, horticulturists had to force “Spike” open

September 1, 2015

The first known photograph of Drosera magnifica.

New Research

No One Knew This Plant Existed Until It Was Posted to Facebook

What’s the emoji for “scientific discovery”?

July 28, 2015

A cereus in Arizona in 2009. These night-blooming flowers spring forth from cacti just one night a year, in concert with other nearby cereus. They usually wilt the next day.

Urban Explorations

See the Flowers that Bloom All At Once, One Night a Year

The mysterious night-blooming cereus just dazzled a garden in Tucson. Scientists still aren’t sure exactly how they bloom at the same time

June 18, 2015