Botany News

April 18, 2025

Top Headlines

A New Record for California's Highest Tree

Apr. 17, 2025 — A professor's casual hike in the High Sierra turned into a new elevation record for California's highest tree, the Jeffrey pine, which wasn't formerly known to grow at extreme ...

Nutrients Strengthen Link Between Precipitation and Plant Growth, Study Finds

Apr. 17, 2025 — A new study has investigated how the relationship between mean annual precipitation (MAP) and grassland biomass changes when one or more nutrients are added. The authors show that precipitation and ...

Forward Genetics Approach Reveals the Factor Responsible for Carbon Trade-Off in Leaves

Apr. 16, 2025 — Starch and oils are known as storehouses of carbon in plants. However, the way in which carbon resources are allocated during metabolism in plants remained unknown. Now, however, using a forward ...

Meat or Veg? Plant-Based Protein Is Linked to a Longer Life, Research Shows

Apr. 15, 2025 — A global study has shown that countries which consume more plant-based proteins -- such as chickpeas, tofu and peas -- have longer adult life expectancies. Scientists studied food supply and demographic data between 1961-2018 from 101 countries, ...

Latest Headlines

updated 4:15pm EDT

First New Plant Tissue Discovered in 160 Years Boosts Crop Yields

Apr. 10, 2025 — A research team has discovered a new tissue in plants that plays an essential role in seed formation by regulating the flow of nutrients into the seed. The team used their findings to increase the ...

Growing Wildflowers on Disused Urban Land Can Damage Bee Health

Apr. 15, 2025 — Wildflowers growing on land previously used for buildings and factories can accumulate lead, arsenic and other metal contaminants from the soil, which are consumed by pollinators as they feed, a new ...

Impact of Processing on Biochemical Composition of Plant-Based Products Revealed

Apr. 10, 2025 — A study showed that different processing methods significantly affect the biochemical composition of plant-based foods. Current food classification ...

New Plant Molecule Encourages Plant-Fungi Symbiosis to Improve Crops

Apr. 14, 2025 — Scientists use small peptides to enhance symbiosis between plants and fungi, offering a sustainable alternative to artificial fertilizers. Plant biologists discover new plant molecule, CLE16, as well ...

From Bacterial Immunity to Plant Sex

Apr. 9, 2025 — Could it be that one of only three known markers directly targeting the DNA does not exist outside the realm of microbes? Now, researchers have demonstrated that this marker -- N4-methylcytosine ...

Lactic Acid Bacteria Can Improve Plant-Based Dairy Alternatives

Apr. 8, 2025 — A new study maps how specific lactic acid bacteria can enhance both the flavor and nutritional quality of plant-based dairy alternatives. The findings may have wide-reaching perspectives for the ...

Researchers Reveal Why Young Plants May Be More Vulnerable to Disease

Apr. 4, 2025 — A new study reveals an evolutionary trade-off that young plants face to develop disease ...

Planetary Health Diet and Mediterranean Diet Associated With Similar Survival and Sustainability Benefits

Apr. 4, 2025 — A cohort study was conducted in Spain to compare the health and environmental benefits of the Planetary Health Diet (PHD) and the Mediterranean Diet. ...

Picky Eaters by Day, Buffet by Night: Butterfly, Moth Diets Sync to Plant Aromas

Apr. 3, 2025 — The scent of blooming flowers and fresh plant life is not just a perk of springtime; it is a key driver in the survival and evolution of butterflies ...

Bees Actively Adjust Flower Choice Based on Color and Distance: Updating 'Flower Constancy' Beyond Darwin's Theory

Apr. 3, 2025 — Since Darwin's time, the phenomenon known as flower constancy -- i.e., where insects consistently visit the same flower type even when many others ...

Corpse Flowers Are Threatened by Spotty Recordkeeping

Apr. 3, 2025 — Plant biologists examined records for nearly 1,200 individual corpse flower plants from 111 institutions around the world. The data and records were severely lacking and not standardized. Without ...

Plant Doctor: An AI System That Watches Over Urban Trees Without Touching a Leaf

Apr. 2, 2025 — Monitoring urban plant health traditionally requires extensive manual labor and botanical expertise, creating challenges for cities facing expanding green spaces, higher population densities, and ...

A Borrowed Bacterial Gene Allowed Some Marine Diatoms to Live on a Seaweed Diet

Apr. 1, 2025 — A group of diatom species belonging to the Nitzschia genus, gave up on photosynthesis and now get their carbon straight from their environment, thanks to a bacterial gene picked up by an ancestor, ...

A Step Toward Plant-Based Gelatin

Apr. 1, 2025 — Researchers present gum tragacanth as a plant-based alternative to gelatin for creating edible films. The team developed films containing different concentrations of gelatin and gum tragacanth and ...

The Food and Fuel That Farms Itself

Apr. 1, 2025 — Scientists have released new and more accurate genome sequences for five species of duckweed. Their research reveals the specific genes responsible for some of the plant's most useful traits, ...

Global Patterns in Seed Plant Distribution Over Millions of Years

Mar. 28, 2025 — Why do some plants thrive in specific regions but not in others? A study explores the factors shaping plant distributions and how these patterns have changed over millions of years. Analyzing nearly ...

Nature's Viny Vampire: Discovering What Drives Parasitic Cuscuta Campestris

Mar. 27, 2025 — Researchers have discovered the mechanism that drives the parasitic vine Cuscuta campestris to insert organs into plants after making contact with the ...

Human Urine, a Valuable Resource as Fertilizer for Sustainable Urban Agriculture, Study Concludes

Mar. 27, 2025 — The reuse of human urine would allow for the production of sustainable fertilizers for urban agriculture, with significant environmental benefits, a new study concludes. The research evaluates the ...

If Native Plants Are Going to Survive Climate Change, They Need Our Help to Move -- Here's How to Do It Safely

Mar. 26, 2025 — Many native plants in the U.S. cannot possibly move themselves fast enough to avoid climate-change driven extinction. If these native plants are going to have any chance of surviving into the future, ...

Getting Hit by Lightning Is Good for Some Tropical Trees

Mar. 26, 2025 — Getting zapped with millions of volts of electricity may not sound like a healthy activity, but for some trees, it is. A new study reports that some tropical tree species are not only able to ...

How Changing L.A.'s Tree Rules Could Cool More Neighborhoods

Mar. 26, 2025 — Los Angeles has some of the strictest tree planting rules in the nation. These policies limit tree growth, worsen shade disparities and don't improve safety, researchers found. When researchers ...

Using Cover Plants to Remove Pollutants from Arable Soil

Mar. 25, 2025 — Nitrate, pesticides, metals, plastic -- agricultural soils often contain pollutants. But are there sustainable and climate-friendly ways to restore and promote soil health in agricultural land? Yes, ...

Chimpanzees Act as 'Engineers', Choosing Materials to Make Tools Based on Structural and Mechanical Properties

Mar. 24, 2025 — Researchers have discovered that chimpanzees living in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania employ a degree of engineering when making their tools, deliberately choosing plants that provide ...

Scientists Witness Living Plant Cells Generate Cellulose and Form Cell Walls

Mar. 21, 2025 — In a groundbreaking study on the synthesis of cellulose -- a major constituent of all plant cell walls -- a team has captured images of the microscopic process of cell-wall building continuously over ...

Could the Layout of Trees Impact Human Health?

Mar. 20, 2025 — A long-term Switzerland-wide study has found that neighbourhoods with numerous, well-arranged trees exhibit lower mortality risks than other areas. The reasons behind this, and the factors that play ...

Why Do Lymphatic Vessels Form a Jigsaw Puzzle-Like Pattern?

Mar. 20, 2025 — While researchers have long been familiar with the surface structure of lymphatic vessels, a groundbreaking study has now focused on their jigsaw puzzle-like pattern. This arrangement helps cells ...

Peatlands' Potential to Capture Carbon Upgraded as Temperatures Rise

Mar. 20, 2025 — According to a predictive model, the microalgae present in peat bogs could offset up to 14% of future CO2 emissions, thanks to their photosynthetic activity. This conclusion was reached by basing the ...

Plant Patch Can Detect Stress Signals in Real Time

Mar. 19, 2025 — Environmental conditions can cause damaging stress to plants, posing challenges for home gardeners and farmers. Therefore, early detection -- before leaves visibly discolor, wilt or wither -- is ...

Unique Cell Shape Keeps Lymphatic Vessels and Plant Leaves Stable

Mar. 19, 2025 — The cells that make up the walls of the finest of all lymphatic vessels have a lobate, oak leaf-like shape that makes them particularly resilient to changes in fluid volume. A similar cell shape also ...

Protecting Crops: Researchers Open Up New Avenue to Combat a Widespread Plant Virus

Mar. 18, 2025 — New RNA-based active agents reliably protect plants against the Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), the most common virus in agriculture and horticulture. They were developed by researchers at the Martin ...