Evolutionary History of Plants

The Missouri Botanical Garden's Charlotte Taylor has identified, described and named more plant species than any other living woman.

A 3D model of a 407-million-year-old plant fossil has reshaped our understanding of leaf evolution. This study has also provided new perspectives on the remarkable patterns observed in plants. Early plant leaf arrangements differ from those in many contemporary plants, challenging a longstanding

Sanfordiacaulis densifolia is an extinct tree species that existed between 359 and 347 million years ago (Carboniferous period) in what is now New Brunswick, Canada.

A fossilized plant in a museum collection contained the oldest known disease-causing fungus, with microscopic images showing it bursting through the plant's wall.

The evolution of a chemical defense gland allowed the most diverse group of beetles to repel predators and go on to conquer wholly new environments

A Cornell study describes a breakthrough in the quest to improve photosynthesis in certain crops, a step toward adapting plants to rapid climate changes and increasing yields to feed a projected 9 billion people by 2050.

Out of sight, below the soil's surface, fungi play a vital role in the existence and health of our forests, woodlands, jungles, and prairies.

Forget your favorite flowers, because we're talking all about the mean green sporing machines. In this episode of Crash Course Botany, we dive into the

Fossil evidence of how the earliest life on Earth came to be is hard to come by. But scientists have come up with a few theories based on the microbes...

C4 plants are distinguished by a unique leaf structure known as Kranz anatomy, characterized by inner vascular bundle sheath cells and outer mesophyll cells. This specialized arrangement confers C4 plants with several advantages over C3 plants, including higher photosynthetic rates and superior nitrogen and water use efficiency.

Lowly plant is 'potentially as significant' as vascular plants, yet often ignored: study

The evolution of terrestrial plant roots could have kicked off large-scale extinctions by throwing the planet's mineral cycle into disarray

Researchers project that more than 100 million people will soon live in regions where the heat index reaches 125 degrees.

A new study has found how a rose and other plants like a tomato and eggplant came to get their prickles. The discovery could help engineer new thorn-free...

Approximately 12,000 species of mosses exist and cover close to 4 million square miles of earth, equivalent to the size of Canada, and are ecologically and evolutionarily important. Mosses play an essential role in rainwater retention, decreasing plant pathogens and increasing carbon sequestration in soil, thus improving the overall soil health.

When people consider extraordinary plants, most probably don't spare a thought for moss. It blends in against the green background of plant life, and seems to grow everywhere—whether you want it to or not.

Plants can protect their wood from infection and water loss by forming special structures called "tyloses." These prevent bacterial and fungal pathogens from getting into the heartwood of living trees and damaging it. How early in the evolution of plants the woody species became capable of forming such defenses was not previously known.

Mythmaker skins for Galio, Garen, Sivir, Irelia, and Zyra hit the Rift. These will release a day after League of Legends Patch 13.1 is live.

Two-pore channels (TPCs) are ancient ion channels present in the cells of both animals and plants. In animals, including humans, these ion channels play important roles in biological activities in various tissues, such as in the brain and nervous system. All land plant species contain TPC genes; in many higher vascular plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) and Oryza sativa (rice), a single TPC gene is…

The End-Permian mass extinction killed an estimated 80% of life on Earth, but new research suggests that plants might have done okay.