AS WEEDS GO, Arabidopsis thaliana is a rather charming specimen. On a spring day, you might see it sprouting from the cracks of a parking lot, unleashing a small riot of white flowers that give it the common name “mouse ear cress.” But its rotund leaves often bear unwelcome passengers: among them, a bacteria called Pseudomonas syringae. It sits there looking for a way into the plant, usually the stomata through which the leaf takes in water and carbon dioxide, or through a wound. That’s when things get interesting.
Tag Archives: plants
How the Venus Flytrap ‘Remembers’ When It Captures Prey
SCIENTISTS ARE CONTINUING to tease out the mechanisms by which the Venus flytrap can tell when it has captured a tasty insect as prey as opposed to an inedible object (or just a false alarm). There is evidence that the carnivorous plant has something akin to a short-term “memory,” and a team of Japanese scientists has found evidence that the mechanism for this memory lies in changes in calcium concentrations in its leaves, according to a recent paperpublished in the journal Nature Plants.
10 common plants that can hurt you
Plants aren’t out to harm you. On the other hand, they don’t seem to mind if they do. Even the most harmless shrub won’t go out of its way to prevent you from scratching, bleeding, or, in rare cases, dying from respiratory paralysis. And some plants, including all 10 of the ones listed here, are well equipped to make your life miserable if you mess with them. You can learn all about this by donning a Speedo and racing through thick underbrush. Or you can just read on.
The Mystery of the Sex-Changing Sugar Maple Trees
Scientists have known for some time that trees not only have a sex, but can sometimes switch between sexes. But they haven’t always known why. Now, as The Washington Post’s Amy Ellis Nutt reports, a new study suggests that for at least one species, the switch happens after injury.
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Parasitic plants dwell in darkness, feeding on mold and mushrooms
You might be under the impression that plants photosynthesize—using energy from the sun to turn carbon dioxide and water into delicious and nutritious sugar—and you’re mostly right. Even carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap practice this process to some extent (though nutrient-poor environments and inefficiency often lead them to supplement their diets with something a little bloodier). But not all flora are capable of feeding off of the sun. Some long ago abandoned this ability, having evolved other ways of gathering nutrients.
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Introducing the world’s oldest plant-like fossil
When you think fossils, you probably think of impressively preserved bones; the last remains of dinosaurs that strolled (or flew) across the Earth eons ago.
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CEMENT MIGHT NOT BE AS BAD FOR THE PLANET AS WE THOUGHT
City sidewalks and brick buildings look a little greener today, thanks to new research showing that cement can soak up CO2. That’s not the only good news to come out this week. A team of German scientists engineered photosynthesis to be faster and more efficient. And a team of Americans buried 1,000 tons of carbon pollution underground.
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The Fat Cat Collective 