Plants

Environment

Flower shape and size impact bees’ chances of catching gut parasites

Bumblebees have higher chances of contracting a gut parasite from short, wide flowers than from blooms with other shapes, experiments show.

Plants

This pitcher plant species sets its deathtraps underground

Scientists didn’t expect the carnivorous, eggplant-shaped pitchers to be sturdy enough to survive below the surface.

Chemistry

Cats chewing on catnip boosts the plant’s insect-repelling powers

When cats tear up catnip, it increases the amount of insect-repelling chemicals released by the plants.

Plants

These are the first plants grown in moon dirt

The first attempt to grow plants in Apollo samples from the moon shows the promise and potential struggles of farming in lunar soil.

Plants

Leonardo da Vinci’s rule for how trees branch was close, but wrong

An update to da Vinci’s elegant, 500-year-old “rule of trees” offers a powerful, new way to describe the structure of almost any leafy tree.

Plants

These flowers lure pollinators to their deaths. There’s a new twist on how

Some jack-in-the-pulpit plants may use sex to lure pollinators. That's confusing for male fungus gnats — and deadly.

Climate

Forests help reduce global warming in more ways than one

Trees are often touted as bulwarks against climate change for their capacity to sequester carbon, but that’s just one part of the story.

Life

Africa’s fynbos plants hold their ground with the world’s thinnest roots

Long, thin roots help this South African shrubland commandeer soil nutrients and keep the neighboring forest from encroaching on its territory.

Plants

Earth may have 9,200 more tree species than previously thought

Estimating how many tree species are on Earth is an important step for forest conservation and protecting biodiversity.

Plants

Invasive grasses are taking over the American West’s sea of sagebrush

Cheatgrass and other invasive plants are expanding rapidly in the western United States, putting more places at risk for wildfires.

Chemistry

Here’s the chemistry behind marijuana’s skunky scent

Newly ID’d sulfur compounds in cannabis flowers give the plant its telltale odor. One, prenylthiol, is what also gives “skunked beer” its funky flavor.

Climate

Rice feeds half the world. Climate change’s droughts and floods put it at risk

Rice provides sustenance for billions who have no alternative, and climate change threatens to slash production. Growers will need to innovate to provide an important crop as climate whiplash brings drought and floods to fields worldwide.