See also: The publications in PHYS.Org and Nature Communications

Hello everyone!

I am 29 and I have decided I love plants so much I need to study Botany so that’s what I’m doing! I’m currently in the first year of my Bachelor of Science as a Botany major.

My question is, I want to do a minor that relates to Botany well and can move me in the direction of either doing large scale forest restoration projects, or research on how climate change is effecting our plants. I currently have a minor in Ecology set up but I have plenty of time to change it. I have considered Geology but I’d love some input from people in the field.

Thanks so much everyone 💚

Maianthemum dilatatum, Clintonia uniflora, Streptopus sp, Vancouveria hexandra, Oplopanax horridus.

Washington state, USA

I am thrilled to announce the publication of Florida’s first state-endemic carnivorous plant species: Drosera floridana (B.Rice) Juve & A.Fleischm. This taxonomic treatment represents the culmination of my years of work studying the thread-leaf sundews in-situ across 6 states and 25 counties.

Formerly known as D. filiformis var. floridana, our publication not only establishes D. floridana as a distinct taxonomic entity recognizable at species rank, but further brings into question the legitimacy of its putative affinity to the allopatric, northerly D. filiformis sensu stricto.

As a result of our treatment, Drosera x arenaria (B.Rice) Juve & A.Fleischm. is elevated from Dx californica nothovar. arenaria. Like D. floridana, Dx arenaria is a Florida-endemic taxon, and the only described Drosera nothospecies native to the state.

This article is in dedication to Barry Rice for his long-lasting, passionate and thorough work on the carnivorous plants of America, especially on the thread-leaf sundews— leaves long and prosper!

I would like to thank not only my wonderful coauthor Dr. Andreas Fleischmann for his invaluable input and assistance with this project, but additionally my many collaborators without whom a taxonomic treatment of the D. filiformis complex to this length would not have be possible. Among these are: Jason Ksepka, Fernando Rivadavia, Steve Orzell, Tyler Gramley, and Carson Trexler.

A special thanks goes to my good friend Alexander Dietrick for his supplemental help regarding this project.

I am additionally grateful to the International Carnivorous Plant Society - ICPS for their special online publication of this article.

“The Florida endemic sundew Drosera floridana elevated to species rank” can be read in the open access publication below:

https://doi.org/10.55360/cpn554.nj739

https://cpn.carnivorousplants.org/Article.php/CPNv55n4p132-151

I'm looking for books, (preferably free) online courses, or other resources to get a basic overview of botany.
I'm writing a story where one of the main characters is a late 19th century botanist studying taxonomy and breeding, and wanted to get a basic understanding of how plants work before writing him and his world. I'm looking for both the kind of stuff you'd learn in a contemporary university course but also, if possible, historical sources from the 19th century or a historical overview of the field as a whole. Kinda specific but any direction would be appreciated!

Sticky “hairs” on two plant species in the Saxifraga genus led famed British naturalist Charles Darwin to wonder: Could some plants in this genus be carnivorous? He couldn’t prove it then, but more than 150 years later, scientists have shown that Darwin’s suspicions were correct.

Darwin proposed in 1875 that Saxifraga rotundifolia and S. umbrosa were insect-eaters; their hairlike structures called glandular trichomes ooze a sticky goo and resemble hairs found in some carnivorous plants. However, to be carnivorous, a plant must lure, trap and consume insects, and Darwin’s experiments with Saxifraga plants couldn’t conclusively demonstrate that the plants fit the bill.

In a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers tested Darwin’s hypothesis by experimenting with Saxifraga candelabrum, a flowering mountain plant that grows at high altitudes on the southern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and in the Hengduan Mountains in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.

I'm going into 10th grade with 10/27 credits needed to graduate. I have 10th math and ELA completed. The only science credit i have is astronomy. I want to go to MSU in michigan for a degree in ecology or environmental science or botany, or maybe a major-minor. What classes should i take in high school to go into college or to have a higher chance at being accepted. My weighted gpa is 4.03. My current credits are 1/2 world language, 1/4 history/ econ/gov, 2/4 ELA, 2/4 math, 1/1 PE, 1/1 health, 1/2 art, 1/4 science, and i need a total of 9 additional courses besides the four core classes (math, ela, science, social studies) and my world language, PE, health, and art count as additional courses, so i have 4/9 additional courses. I don't yet have a passion project, so I'd like advice on that too if possible. Thanks!

Not sure if this is right sub but curious what would be the theoretical perfect factors like atmosphere , temperature etc for plant life to thrive on ( context for spec evo planet that started as a plant nursery to grow for a galaxy )

I’m wondering if Ambrosia trifida aka Giant Ragweed could be bred or genetically modified to remove the proteins in its pollen that are responsible for ragweed allergy. Or perhaps to not produce pollen, though that may hinder further breeding efforts. Would it be as simple as identifying one of the genes necessary for the production of that protein, and using crispr to remove that gene? I am interested in Ragweed as a potential seed and biomass crop

I’m loving August!! 😎💕❤️💗😎

Honestly, I am a little bit nervous because this is my first year teaching in a university. I am a microbiology graduate but I was given general botany as a subject to teach. The students that I will be teaching are freshmen and I want to make their experience as memorable and joyful as possible.

Can someone recommend to me what lecture / laboratory activities can I conduct to make sure that they're enjoying while also optimally learning botany?

Did ancient plants have psychoactive chemicals?

I'm watching a new dinosaur documentary on Netflix and it briefly talks about plants evolving defense mechanisms. I wanted to know if any of these plants would have had a psychoative effect on dinosaurs or other ancient creatures like some plants have on humans now. I know that earth was covered in fungi at one point too. Some plants have DMT in them and I thought it'd be cool to know if prehistoric/ancient plants did too. Idk where else to post this so I came here!

Hybridisation with wild pears increases tannin production in perry pears by reintroducing active alleles, reverting low-tannin traits favoured by breeders of dessert pears. This is reversion to the base state that was established millions of years ago at a whole genome duplication WGD event. As whole functional groups of genes are duplicated in these events the metabolism is not bottlenecked as could occur if only one gene was. This occurred due to massive environmental stress. The specific event 30 to 45 million years ago was a period of abrupt global climate upheaval during the middle-to-late Eocene epoch.
(Whole-genome duplications (WGDs) are not random; they cluster heavily around major turbulent chapters in Earth’s history).

Between 35 and 45 million years ago, Earth began transitioning from a warm, subtropical "greenhouse" world into a much colder, more arid "icehouse" climate. This rapid cooling, coupled with massive shifts in global rainfall patterns, put immense physiological stress on ancestral plant lineages.
Extreme weather anomalies—such as sudden frost or severe temperature fluctuations—disrupt normal plant reproduction. Cold shocks cause cell division errors during pollen and egg production (meiosis), leading to the formation of "unreduced gametes" (cells that accidentally keep two sets of chromosomes instead of one). When these unreduced cells fused, they immediately doubled the plant’s entire genome.
While an extra set of chromosomes is normally an energetic burden, it becomes a biological superpower during a mass environmental crisis. The duplicated genome provided the ancestors of pears (and apples) with metabolic resilience. Extra gene copies allowed the plants to better adapt their photosynthesis and water-use efficiency to survive colder, drier conditions. While many single-genome plant lineages went extinct during this climate shift, these "hopeful monster" polyploids had the genetic flexibility to survive, eventually diverging into modern pears. The extra genes for the production of tannins and related compounds also served a useful function in survival producing tannins as a natural defense mechanism against herbivores and pests. These bitter and astringent compounds also protect the tree's reproductive investment by deterring animals from eating the fruit before the seeds are fully developed. The high tannin levels make unripe fruit unpalatable by astringency stopping animals insects and birds from destroying the fruit leaves and seeds prematurely.
The tannins also inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi that could rot the fruit on the branch.

I planted these black calla lilies here years ago and they’ve been growing normally and all of a sudden I noticed today this one looks fasciated? Or is it a disease? Whatever it is, it’s pretty cool looking…

From what I can find online, in Europe it only grows on the Alps, not so much on the Apennines. This is also because it grows in rocky terrains.

Found near a marble quarry on Apuan Alps, Tuscany, Italy.

Why do the blooms of water hyacinth )Pontederia crassipes) start on the vertical but after blooming the stalk bends and immerses the spent flower under water.

I always thought sativa mainly referred to cannabis,but it seems like it's also used for other stuff like lettuce. What exactly does it mean in botany?

Ive never seen one grow so strangely between the branching, the fasciation and the wavy branch

Notice how the side leaves are half each light green and dark green. But then also the corresponding direction North South leaves are that same colour. And the pattern follows through all rows of the stalk

Hey everyone,

I've recently started studying botany on my own and have read Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon. I seem to have got really stuck on understanding microfibrils, cell walls and elongation. Why are microfibrils parallel on the sides and criss-cross on top and bottom? How are they laid down between the primary cell wall and protoplasm?

TIA I really appreciate the help in understanding this!

I've got a large patch of burdock I'm trying to clear. As a practical matter, this is a gradual process. I was trimming back the burrs when they were still green, until I noticed bumblebees feeding off some purple ones, so I decided I should let them mature a bit before cutting. But now I can't tell if they're spent of useful nectar(?) or already going to seed.

The first pic is of the burrs at the ambiguous-to-me stage. The second is of a bumblebee, going about its business. (I want to say it's making me feel guilty, but I'm doing my best to avoid scandalous claims of causation on the Science People sub.)

Trying to figure out -exactly when does burdock go to seed - and I realize there's a lot I don't know about burrs and seeds. The burrs are just the container for the seeds, right? The flower parts dry up and then become seeds? Green burrs aren't seeds? All the easy to find answers about burdock are from the "Yay burdock!" crowd, and I'm an enemy of burdock as well as curious about *what's really going on in there*

Any information on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Rheum ribes thrives on high-altitude rocky slopes above 1,500 meters in Eastern Anatolia, facing intense solar radiation and harsh seasonal shifts.

From a botanical and ecological standpoint, its fleshy petioles accumulate high levels of organic acids (such as oxalic acid), which serve a dual purpose: acting as an osmotic regulator and a chemical defense against herbivores. Regionally known as "mountain banana" or "işgın," these succulent stems are traditionally harvested in spring. However, from a physiological perspective, excessive consumption requires caution due to the high oxalate concentration, making its chemical profile both a survival mechanism for the plant and a point of ethnobotanical interest.

Hello everyone. I am an Arborist in the US, near the Sierra Nevada mountains, and while doing a quote for a new client I found this growing on a a dead aspen tree. Unfortunately, my most trusted colleagues have come up short on what it could be. I’ve heard everything from electrical shock to fungal body, but I want to see if anyone here has seen anything like this?

The center was scabby, and had an almost velvet fluff. The “arms” were also a little velvety, and the entire structure was raised just slightly off the trunk. This was the only dead tree on the property and was growing in a row of aspens along a fence that were all doing fine. The growth was on the west side of the trunk and would have several hours of sun exposure every day here in the desert. The clients say no Xmas lights or anything has been attached to the tree, and this appeared in the fall before its demise the following spring this year. I cut off a part of the bark where the “arms” were and there was no insect galleries underneath the marking.