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Plants

Montsechia’s origins in freshwater lakes challenge the idea that flowers evolved on land before moving into water.

These Are the Oldest Known Flowers in the World

Found in the fossil record, these plants are more than 100 million years old

Cool Finds

This Giant Van Gogh Painting Is Made of Pumpkins, Watermelons and Squash

How crop artist Stan Herd made an acre-wide ode to “Olive Trees”

By the time the Salt River reaches downtown Phoenix, it is a river in name only. Some scientists think that is why a non-native plant, the salt cedar, is thriving while native flora are suffering.

Age of Humans

How We Created a Monster In the American Southwest

The salt cedar is often seen as an un-killable invader. But are humans the real reason this unwanted plant is thriving?

Setting up sound monitors in Papua New Guinea.

Scientists Are Recording 24-Hour Soundtracks of Rainforests

The bioacoustic data gives Nature Conservancy researchers clues about the health of an ecosystem

Mayapple plant

Innovative Spirit Health Care

Scientists Manipulate Common Plants to Produce Cancer Drugs

Stanford researchers have figured out how to transfer a rare plant’s chemical “assembly line” into a cheap, common lab plant

New Research

How Climate Change is Messing with Bees

New and ongoing research points to issues with bee ranges and the early emergence of flowers

The True Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Never Truly Ate the South

A naturalist cuts through the myths surrounding the invasive plant

Coming Soon: Helmets Made From Carrots

A Scottish company has created a biodegradable material from carrot pulp that could be used in protective sports gear

A hawthorn tree in the moonlight

New Research

Plants Might Move with the Moon Just as the Oceans Do with Tides

One researcher calls it the “leaftide”

Five of the World’s Most Fascinating Topiary Gardens

Whimsical gardens in surprising shapes decorate homes, churches and cemeteries around the world. We’ve rounded up five of the most extraordinary

Sweetgrass, a possible anti-mosquito agent.

New Research

This Sweet-Smelling Herb Can Ward Away Mosquitoes

Traditionally used by some Native American peoples, sweetgrass contains chemicals known to repel pesky bugs

Giovanni Stanchi (Rome c. 1645-1672). Oil on canvas, 38 5/8 x 52½ in.

Cool Finds

This Renaissance Painting of Fruit Holds a Modern-Day Science Lesson

Hint: it’s in the watermelon

A blue Egyptian water lily, a potential inspiration for flower petals painted on a casket found in Tut's tomb.

How Flowers Changed the World, From Ecosystems to Art Galleries

A new book by entomologist Stephen Buchmann explores the beautiful and sometimes bizarre history of flowering plants

Serpentine columbine may use dead bugs to lure in spiders to do its dirty work, researchers report.

New Research

This Plant Murders Bugs and Decorates Itself With Their Dead Bodies

Talk about a roundabout defense strategy

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”?

A tiny chair 3D printed from cellulose

You Can Now 3D Print With Liquefied Wood

A chemist at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden is making sustainable 3d printing a reality

Tissue samples in test tubes, like the one D.C. high school student Asia Hill is holding above, are wrapped tin foil and dropped into the team's portable liquid nitrogen tank.

These Scientists Hope to Have Half the World’s Plant Families on Ice By the End of Summer

Teaming up with botanical gardens, researchers at the Natural History Museum are digging deep into garden plant genomics

Is air in the country healthier than air in the city? One scientist has a theory as to why that's the case, and it's got nothing to do with pollution.

Cool Finds

Is Country Air Really Better Than City Air?

One scientist thinks it’s because of toxic plant chemicals

A small cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapae) hovers on a hedge mustard plant (Sisybrium officinale). While the butterfly might look harmless enough, its caterpillars engage in a chemical war with this mustard plant's cultivated relatives.

New Research

Mustard Is A Product Of Evolutionary Warfare Between Plants And Caterpillars

Plants produce mustard oils to fight off pests in a chemical conflict that’s been waged for millions of years

Renderings

2 World Trade Center and the Promise of Green Skyscrapers

New renderings of the tower show impressive sky gardens—a trendy feature that’s difficult to pull off

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