Introduction Springtime is when nature appears to come back to life after winter. The trees grow new leaves, the grass turns green, and the flowers spring up, often with beautiful colours and a pleasant scent. Have you ever looked at a particular flower? What are the parts of flowers? Are all flowers the same? This … Read more
Without the vibrant and varied landscapes of plant life, it is nearly impossible to imagine our world today. Angiosperms, also known as flowering plants, are the most abundant and diverse group of plants. They make up more than 80% of all species, plus our staple food crops. The world wasn’t always like that. There was … Read more
The rose we call a rose by another name would smell just as sweet.” However, like the Montagues or Capulets, names can be very important and cause great heartache. My colleagues and I are taxonomists. This means that we name living things. Although we have never named a rose, there are many Australian species of … Read more
After the Black Summer bushfires in 2019-20, smoke was cleared from the area surrounding the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah. An NSW Waratah, Telopea speciosissima, was among the victims. It had just become the first species to have its genome sequenced. This genome has been published in the journal Molecular Ecology Resources. The Waratah, a stunning red flower … Read more
It is a member of the Solanaceae (the Nightshade Family), and it contains both species of great agricultural value (tomatoes (eggplants) and highly poisonous species. There are nine species in the Datura genus, covering both tropical and temperate regions. The Hindu term “dhatura”, which means “thorn apples”, is the root of the word “datura”. Dangerous … Read more
We hear a lot of bees and their importance in growing our crops. They are important – but we need to be concerned about recent declines in bee populations and their health. However, bees aren’t the only pollinators. Recent global analysis revealed that “non bee” insects play a much larger role than previously thought. … Read more
Although few people recognized her name, the people I spoke to were willing to call her painting, Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase of 1716, a “great work of art.” Why is it that Ruysch’s talents as a woman artist are not more widely recognized? Partially, this can be attributed to a … Read more
Flowers were part of women’s culture. They represented beauty, femininity, and innocence. This changed during the first world conflict. They gathered flowers from the battlefields, dried them, and used the wildflowers as themes for their paintings and photos. Blue cornflowers, red poppies, and other flowers showed the fragility and beauty of life. Paul Fussell, … Read more
While most plants have flowers, their evolutionary history is unknown. The sexual organs of over 360,000 plants today are flowers. They all descend from one common ancestor from the distant past. The first flowers were produced by this ancestral plant alive between 250m-140m years ago. This happened when the planet was warmer and had … Read more
Bright bluebell carpets are a sign of spring in British forests. Bluebells – Hyacinthoides Non-Scripta (L. Chouard ex Rothm) – are Britain’s favourite wildflower. Their fine carpets draw visitors to places like Kew Gardens in London or Coed Cefn, Powys. Bluebells can also form carpets that lack a wooded canopy, such as on Skomer Island, in … Read more