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.
Every season, scientists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) go on field trips to the Pyrenees. Their mission: gather snapdragon flowers to understand their genetic makeup.
Evolution
Sep 22, 2025
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Heterostyly, a floral polymorphism where a species produces two or three distinct flower types with reciprocal arrangements of stigmas and anthers, boosts pollination accuracy, reduces sexual interference, and encourages ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 18, 2025
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Plant stem cells are crucial for the world's food supply, animal feed, and fuel production. They lay the foundation for how plants grow. Yet, much about these mysterious building blocks remains unknown. Previous analyses ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 15, 2025
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The wildflowers of Britain include all manner of treasures—yet many people are only aware of a few, such as bluebells and foxgloves. A lot of its other flora are rare because of Britain's location at the northern, western ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 4, 2025
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Seeds are vital for plant reproduction and agriculture. Seed size, a crucial trait for plant adaptation and crop yield, is intricately controlled by genetic signals and environmental factors. The plant hormone jasmonate (JA) ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Aug 28, 2025
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Researchers have decoded a long-standing mystery of how flowering plants ensure their sperm cells successfully reach the egg for fertilization, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature Plants.
Plants & Animals
Aug 28, 2025
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Serving as the representative plant species in most plant research across the last half century, Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) has revealed how plants respond to light, which hormones control plant behavior, and why ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 19, 2025
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People often prioritize aesthetics when choosing plants for their gardens. They may pick flowers based on colors that create visually appealing combinations and varieties that have bigger and brighter displays or more fragrant ...
Ecology
Aug 19, 2025
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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are tiny RNA molecules that regulate gene expression by controlling messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and are critical for various biological processes, including development, stress responses, and epigenetic regulation. ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 14, 2025
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Pollinators play a vital role in fertilizing flowers, which grow into seeds and fruits and underpin our agriculture. But climate change can cause a mismatch between plants and their pollinators, affecting where they live ...
Ecology
Aug 11, 2025
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