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News tagged with flowers

Got nectar? To hawkmoths, humidity is a cue

(Phys.org) -- Humidity emanating from a flower's nectar stores tells a moth if the flower is worth a visit, research led by a UA entomologist has discovered.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created 19 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Blowing in the wind: How hidden flower features are crucial for bees

As gardeners get busy filling tubs and borders with colourful bedding plants, scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol have discovered more about what makes flowers attractive to bees rather than humans. Published ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 28, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

It's in the genes: Research pinpoints how plants know when to flower

Scientists believe they've pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants "know" when to flower.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 25, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (10) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Yellow monkey flower could shed light on evolution's mysteries

(Phys.org) -- The French impressionist Claude Monet once credited flowers as the reason for him “having become a painter.”

Biology / Evolution

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

How plants chill out

Plants elongate their stems when grown at high temperature to facilitate the cooling of their leaves, according to new research from the University of Bristol published today in Current Biology. Understanding why plants alter ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Pollination with precision: How flowers do it

Pollination could be a chaotic disaster. With hundreds of pollen grains growing long tubes to ovules to deliver their sperm to female gametes, how can a flower ensure that exactly two fertile sperm reach every ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Drought-resistant Argentine soy raises hopes, concerns

Researchers in Argentina have isolated a drought-resistant sunflower gene and spliced it into soy, bolstering hopes for improved yields as the South American agricultural powerhouse grapples with global warming.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 27, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Scientists discover 'switch' in plants to create flowers

Flowering is the most crucial act that plants undergo, as the fruits of such labor include crops on which the world depends, and seeds from which the next generation grows.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2

Seed size is controlled by maternally produced small RNAs: research

Seed size is controlled by small RNA molecules inherited from a plant's mother, a discovery from scientists at The University of Texas at Austin that has implications for agriculture and understanding plant ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists reveal genetic mutation depicted in van Gogh's sunflower paintings

In addition to being among his most vibrant and celebrated works, Vincent van Gogh's series of sunflower paintings also depict a mutation whose genetic basis has, until now, been a bit of a mystery.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Genetic research places flower shape on drawing board

Flowers such as sunflowers and gerberas are made up of two types of smaller flowers: ray and disk flowers. Dutch researcher Anneke Rijpkema has discovered the genes responsible for the distribution between ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Why spring is blooming marvelous (and climate change makes it earlier)

With buds bursting early, only for a mild winter to turn Arctic and wipe them out, we are witnessing how warm weather can trigger flowering, even out of season, and how important it is for plants to blossom at the right time ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 21, 2012 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (6) | comments 6

Hummingbirds take no notice of flower color

Hummingbirds pay no attention to what colour a flower is when figuring out whether to raid it for nectar, the latest research suggests.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 16, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Sympatric speciation contributes to island biodiversity

Scientists discover at least 11 examples of sympatric speciation on Lord Howe Island.

Biology / Evolution

created Mar 15, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

An early spring drives butterfly population declines

Early snow melt in the Colorado Rocky Mountains initiates two chains of events resulting in population decline in the mormon fritillary butterfly, Speyeria mormonia. One effect of snow melt date was readily detectable, but th ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 15, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms). The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds. The process begins with pollination, is followed by fertilization, leading to the formation and dispersal of the seeds. For the higher plants, seeds are the next generation, and serve as the primary means by which individuals of a species are dispersed across the landscape. The grouping of flowers on a plant are called the inflorescence.

In addition to serving as the reproductive organs of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans, mainly to beautify their environment but also as a source of food.

For more information about Flower, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: genes , plants , bees