Category: Amazing Plants
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The Sound Of A Plant Dying Of Thirst
That is the sound of a plant dying of thirst. Heartbreaking isn’t it?
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New Species Evolves From Two Invasive Aliens…Twice
A Scottish species of monkey-flower that evolved from two invasive species – twice.
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The Universal Mathematics Of Bamboo Flowering Cycles
This remarkable cycle would be fascinating enough on its own. But it turns out a number of other species of bamboo grow flowers on cycles lasting decades, too. A species called Bambusa bamboos flowers every 32 years, for example. Phyllostachys nigra f. henonis takes 60 years. Three biologists at Harvard got puzzled by these cycles and recently set out to find an explanation for how they evolved.
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True Community: Trees Of Different Species Connected, Supporting Each Other
This phenomenon amazes me. On the face of it, it appears as if the douglas-fir is acting altruistically (without expectation of return) to help neighbors of a completely different species in light of its own probable demise. Even without the altruism, that trees as widely unrelated as douglas-fir and ponderosa pine can transfer resources to each other for any reason through fungi from a completely different kingdom is a bit of a shocker to me.
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The Oldest Baobab in Madagascar? (1,600 years!)
According to accurate dating results, the fony baobab becomes the second Adansonia species with individuals that can live over 1,000 yr. On the other hand, by its age, the Grandmother is a major candidate for being the oldest baobab of Madagascar.
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Does Spring Pollen Cause Rain?
It’s possible that when trees emit pollen, that makes clouds, which in turn makes rain and that feeds back into the trees and can influence the whole growth cycle of the plant.
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Scientists Discover WHY Earlier Spring Produces Earlier Flowers
It seems that plants aim to flower not at a particular time of year, but when the optimal temperature for seed set is approaching. If the climate warms plants are clever enough to recognise this and adjust their flowering time accordingly and it feels like spring comes earlier in the year.
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The Plant That Reveals Hidden Diamond Mines
A geologist has discovered a thorny, palmlike plant in Liberia that seems to grow only on top of kimberlite pipes—columns of volcanic rock hundreds of meters across that extend deep into Earth, left by ancient eruptions that exhumed diamonds from the mantle. If the plant is as choosy as it seems to be, diamond hunters in West Africa will have a simple, powerful way of finding diamond-rich deposits.
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How Vines Climb: Still Working On Figuring That Out
We present some recent advances in the understanding of attachment mechanics. The research combines approaches from plant development, biomechanics, molecular biology, and structural biology.
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Picky Orchid Attracts Specific Species Of Carrion Fly
Of all insect species visiting carrion, only a very minor proportion pollinated the carrion-mimicking plant species Satyrium pumilum (orchid) . We argued that this most likely reflects niche differentation among carrion insects, with a critical role for scent quantity in brood- and food-site location.