Flowering plants, or angiosperms, are a clade of seed-producing vascular plants characterized by flowers, enclosed ovules, and fruits that develop from ovaries. They exhibit double fertilization, producing both a diploid zygote and a triploid endosperm, and possess highly diversified floral structures that underpin complex pollination syndromes. Angiosperms dominate most terrestrial ecosystems in species richness, morphological diversity, and functional roles, driving global primary productivity and biogeochemical cycles. Research on flowering plants spans phylogenomics, developmental genetics of floral organs, plant–pollinator coevolution, and physiological adaptations, making them central model systems for understanding plant evolution, speciation, and ecosystem dynamics.
August Weismann's germ plasm theory of the late 19th century posited that only germ cells, e.g., sperm and egg cells in animals or pollen and ovule cells in plants, transmit genetic information to the next generation, and ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 2, 2026
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Identifying weeds, checking out the pollen map, or discovering new plant life-forms are among the promising wealth of data available to users of PlantNet—a "Shazam!" for plants. Pierre Bonnet and computer scientist Alexis ...
Biotechnology
Mar 31, 2026
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Characteristic features of plants, such as their active ingredients or flower color, may have developed through very different evolutionary histories. This is shown by an international study on the orange-flowering California ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 23, 2026
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209
Plants, like people, have a circadian clock and they sense seasonal changes to light and temperature. Plants that bloom in the spring use the longer days and warmer temperatures as seasonal cues that it's time to bloom.
Plants & Animals
Mar 18, 2026
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Plants are usually seen as stationary life forms, quietly supporting environments. But plant communities and populations are far from static. They are constantly being shaped by the world around them.
Plants & Animals
Mar 17, 2026
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A yellow disk with rays of white—an icon of childhood drawings and a flower with healing properties. We have picnics on it, play football on it and make daisy chains out of it.
Plants & Animals
Feb 28, 2026
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Plants around the world are flowering earlier in the year, a trend attributed to climate change. But there could be another hitherto hidden trigger. Scientists led by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences suggest ...
Indoor farms, also known as vertical farms, are popular among agricultural researchers and are expanding across the agricultural industry. Some benefits they have over outdoor farms include the year-round production of food ...
Biotechnology
Feb 25, 2026
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Climate change has caused some tropical plants to flower earlier or later than they used to; in some cases by a matter of weeks or even months, according to a study of 8,000 flowers across more than two centuries, published ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 25, 2026
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Cape Town, in South Africa, is famous for its dramatic mountains and coastline, but its greatest treasure lies in the plants that carpet its slopes and valleys. Table Mountain National Park and its surrounds are home to 2,785 ...
Ecology
Feb 14, 2026
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