Caves have an isolated, strongly zonal environment and are home to unique and fragile biotas with high levels of endemism. However, little is known about how the biotic colonization of caves developed over time, especially ...
Hundreds of animals eat fruit, from toucans to fruit bats to maned wolves to humans. But most fruit-bearing plants evolved relatively recently in Earth's history, showing up for the first time in the Cretaceous, the final ...
The wild orchid Habenaria radiata's pure white petals resemble a white egret in flight (hence its common name white egret orchid). H. radiata has been loved by people since ancient times but the adaptive significance of the ...
Parasitic plants are extraordinary plants with unique physiology, ecology, and evolutionary histories, and little is known about their origin and evolution. Initially, certain autotrophs evolved to be facultative hemiparasitic ...
Microbes growing on flowers have adverse effects on their yields. This is why plants are quick to shed their flowers, reveals a new study involving both field experiments and plant microbiome analysis.
Begonia is the sixth largest genus of angiosperms. Yunnan has 117 species of Begonia among the 250 species from China. Among the currently known Begonias in China, only Begonia yui has paired bracteoles below the ovary.
The renowned Apple Bay fossil locality of northern Vancouver Island is helping us reimagine seed plant diversity in the Early Cretaceous, the last of three geologic periods comprising the Mesozoic Era.
Rutgers researchers have discovered that nitrogen-fixing bacteria hidden within leaf cells could lead to more efficient and sustainable methods of crop cultivation.
A new study has found that plant species are adapted to the altitude where they grow by 'sensing' the oxygen levels that surround them.
For decades, paleobotanist David Greenwood has collected fossil plants from Australia—some so well preserved it's hard to believe they're millions of years old. These fossils hold details about the ancient world in which ...
