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Celebrating Plants and People

  • The Saffron In Your Dinner Could Be Redeeming Afghan Opium Farmers

    Bomb-blasted roads, frequent blackouts, shortages of basic equipment and an untested consumer market are hardly conditions that make for natural entrepreneurial opportunities. But three Army veterans and one civilian who all served in Afghanistan have taken on those challenges in their new venture. Their company, Rumi Spice, buys saffron from Afghan farmers and sells it to international customers. (Click on title for full story.)

  • Tomato Virus Reprograms Plants To Bring In The Pollinators

    The extra pollination that comes with virus infection could increase the fitness of susceptible plants and help explain why these virus-susceptibility genes persist in tomato populations, the researchers proposed. (Click on title for full story.)

  • It Takes A Community. Some Plant Species Do Not Adapt To New Neighbors

    If plants evolved to elevated carbon dioxide in one neighbourhood, then experienced elevated carbon dioxide in a different neighbourhood, the benefits disappeared. This result was very surprising to us. (Click on title for full story.)

  • Enzyme From Carnivorous Plant May Help With Celiac Disease

    In a few years’ time, people with celiac disease could take a pill containing these enzymes, which would allow them to fully break down gluten. (Click on title for full story.)

  • Our Love For Avocados Is Destroying Rare Forests

    The impact is having a devastating effect on the species which flourish in the region. High avocado prices have fueled deforestation in Michoacan state, Mexico (AP) A mature avocado orchard uses almost twice as much water as fairly dense forest, meaning less reaches Michoacán’s legendary crystalline mountain streams on which the forests and animals depend. (Click on title for full story.)

  • Do Traditional Plant-Based Insect Repellents Work?

    Recently, commercial repellent products containing plant-based ingredients have gained increasing popularity among consumers, as these are commonly perceived as “safe” in comparison to long-established synthetic repellents although this is sometimes a misconception. To date insufficient studies have followed standard WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme guidelines for repellent testing. There is a need for further standardized studies in order to better evaluate repellent compounds and develop new products that offer high repellency as well as good consumer safety. This paper presents a summary of recent information on testing, efficacy and safety of plant-based repellents as well as promising new developments in the field. (Click on title for full story.)

  • When Hybrids Are Better Able To Survive Change Than Their Parents Are

    While hybrids might be expected to be a blend of the two parent species, the researchers found that they tended to have shorter and wider flower openings than both of the parent species which means that a wider range of pollinators can enter the flowers. By allowing a wider range of insects to pollinate them, hybrids make themselves much less vulnerable to the extinction of a single pollinator. (Click on title for full story.)

  • After Farmers Demonized The Prairie, The Prairie Returns To Save Farms

    Iowa farmers lose about $40 per acre to soil erosion in a state where more than 85 percent of the land is covered by crops. If you look at those figures and the amount of corn acres in Iowa, you quickly surpass a billion dollars of annual lost revenue. Nearly a third of topsoil is lost in ephemeral gullies, swaths carved into farms by heavy rain. Since most prairie plants are perennial, they physically stabilize the soil most of the year. (Click on title for full story.)

  • Insect Killer Of Eastern Hemlocks Uses Birds To Get Around

    The researchers found that that birds picked up more crawlers when they brushed up against branches as opposed to perching on them. However, perched bird mounts picked up plenty of crawlers, suggesting that the adelgids may not be simply passive hitchhikers as previously thought. (Click on title for full story.)

  • Olives: From Vile Fresh Fruit To Cultural Staple

    A luscious-looking olive, ripe off the sun-warmed tree, is horrible. (Click on title for full story.)