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Trees

That's some bad news for hay fever sufferers.

New Research

Allergy Season Is Getting Longer and Nastier Each Year

An extended and intensified allergy season is one of the most visible effects of climate change

Cool Finds

This Is the World’s Tallest Tropical Tree

The yellow meranti in Malaysia’s Sabah state is 330 feet tall and weighs more than a jetliner

George Washington, (Porthole type) by Rembrandt Peale, c. 1853

George Washington and I Go Way Back—Or So Goes the Tale of My Family’s Cane

An heirloom is charged with both sentiment and purely speculative history

New Study Showcases Three-Toed Sloth’s Unsung Adaptability

Juvenile members of the so-called “specialized” herbivore species draw on a more diverse diet than previously believed

Cool Finds

Your Christmas Tree May Be Turned Into Mouthwash One Day

A new sustainable chemical process can turn pine needles into a chemical feedstock for paint, food sweeteners, mouthwash and other products

By regrowing trees from stumps, farms can produce sustainable, pesticide-free pine trees.

Stump-Grown Christmas Trees Are the Gift That Keeps on Giving

Using the sustainable and ancient method of coppicing, evergreen Christmas trees can be regrown indefinitely

Seven Places Reinventing the Christmas Tree

From rocket gardens to tumbleweeds, here are some of the most imaginative holiday trees in the United States

Smithsonian.com’s Chief Digital Officer Shares His Favorite Books of the Year

Our own William Allman describes the 2018 titles he found to be the most enjoyable and eye-opening reads

Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto during the autumn season at dusk,

Forget Cherry Blossoms — Why Fall May Be the Best Time to Visit Japan

From mid-October to early December, Japan’s gorgeous gardens burst with color

Trending Today

Why Fall Color Has Been So Meh in Parts of the U.S. This Year

A hot fall and excess rain robbed much of the East Coast of its annual leaf show

Viking tar kiln.

New Research

Was the Vikings’ Secret to Success Industrial-Scale Tar Production?

Evidence suggests that the ability to mass-produce tar bolstered their trade repertoire and allowed them to waterproof and seal their iconic longships

Pando Grove in fall.

Pando, One of the World’s Largest Organisms, Is Dying

Mule deer and cattle are eating saplings before the clonal grove can regenerate

Smith spotted the elusive creature while searching for rare flowers in the Wondiwoi mountain range

Cool Finds

Elusive Tree Kangaroo Spotted for First Time in 90 Years

An amateur botanist spotted the Wondiwoi tree kangaroo in the remote mountains of West Papua, New Guinea

Why Texas Just May Be the Best State for Fall Foliage

With its rolling prairies and limestone cliffs, historic towns and oak-filled nature parks, Texas Hill Country is a land apart

New Research

Something Is Killing Off Africa’s Largest Baobab Trees

In the last dozen years, four of the 13 largest, and likely oldest, trees have died. Another five are ailing

Europe’s Oldest Known Tree Discovered in Italy

The Heldreich’s pine is 1,230 years old

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Watch This Pine Tree Unleash a Huge, Fluffy Pollen Cloud

A viral video of the pollen explosion has touched a nerve among sufferers of seasonal allergies

Each caterpillar of the oak processionary moth have about 62,000 hairs that contain a protein called thaumetopoein, which causes rashes, asthma attacks and vomiting.

Londoners Beware: These Toxic Caterpillars Cause Rashes and Asthma

The caterpillars were accidentally introduced to Britain in 2005

The Nazis regularly used chemical fog to hide its Tirpitz battleship in the Norwegian fjords during World War II.

Norwegian Trees Still Bear Evidence of a World War II German Battleship

A chemical fog used to camouflage the ship impacted the trees, limiting ring development

The towering, 2,500-year-old “Mother of the Forest” (second from left) died after its bark was stripped for display in New York in 1855.

How California’s Giant Sequoias Tell the Story of Americans’ Conflicted Relationship With Nature

In the mid-19th century, “Big Tree mania” spread across the country and our love for the trees has never abated

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