Plants, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 28, 2011

Arctic's Spring Phytoplankton Blooms Arrive Earlier

When summer comes to the Arctic, the tiny plants that feed the ocean's food chain form green blooms in the water. In some Arctic waters, the peak of this bloom has been arriving earlier every year since 1997, a study has found. These areas, where peak bloom time is creeping...

May 31, 2012

Tundra Shrubs Turn into Trees as Arctic Warms

Tundra is by definition a cold, treeless landscape. But scientists have found that in a part of the Eurasian Arctic, willow and alder shrubs, once stunted by harsh weather, have been growing upward to the height of trees in recent decades. The reason for the change: the warming Arctic climate,...

Feb 29, 2012

Giant Stinking Corpse Flower Set to Bloom

A rare corpse flower is expected to roll down its blood-red skirt and unleash an olfactory assault at the Cornell University greenhouse this week. The corpse flower is technically known as an Indonesian titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) plant. Native to the equatorial rain forests of central Sumatra in western Indonesia,...

Jul 31, 2014

Leafy Bloodhounds: Plants Might Find Land Mines

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Wars may end, but land mines last for decades. These deadly explosives can be cleared, but the task is often dangerous and time-consuming. Someday, there may be an easier way: Plants could indicate where mines lay hidden underground, according to researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in...

Sep 30, 2015

Bug-Eating Plant Uses Raindrops to Capture Prey

Carnivorous pitcher plants use falling raindrops to force prey to their doom, a new study finds. This finding suggests that pitcher plants are not merely motionless pitfall traps, but instead actively use rapid movements to ensnare their meals, the researchers said. All plants can move; — for instance, sunflowers on...

Sep 30, 2015

In Images: Stunning Flower Fields of the Atacama Desert

The normally barren, almost Martian landscape of the Atacama Desert recently erupted in flowers, painting the hillsides, blue, fuschia, orange and yellow. The almost magical transformation occurred thanks to heavy rains earlier in the year, which watered flower seeds that had lain dormant for years. One Twitter user, Tomás Cuadra...

Jul 31, 2015

Common Mullein: Stunning Photos of the 'Flannel Leaf' Plant

Common mullein, Verbascum thapsus, is a perennial herb that was first introduced into the United States in the mid-1700s by colonies in Virginia and was used as a piscicide, a chemical substance that is poisonous to fish. Check out these photos of this fascinating herb. (Credit: Linda & Dr. Dick...

May 31, 2015

Flowering Beauty: Photos of Desert Ironwood Trees

The desert ironwood tree, Olneya tesota, can be found growing only in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico, California and Arizona. Check out these spectacular photos of ironwoods. A desert tree Desert ironwoods grow along the dry washes of the desert region, below 2, 500 feet (762 meters) in elevation. The...

Mar 31, 2015

In Photos: Beautiful Cactus Flowers Signal Spring Is Here

Most scientists today agree that North America has four distinct desert regions: the Great Basin, the Mojave, the Sonoran and the Chihuahuan. The subjective delineation of one from another is based primarily upon the different species of plants that can be found growing in each region. When the cacti found...

Dec 31, 2015

Herbivores: Facts About Plant Eaters

An herbivore is an animal or insect that only eats vegetation, such as grasses, fruits, leaves, vegetables, roots and bulbs. Herbivores only eat things that need photosynthesis to live. This excludes insects, spiders, fish and other animals. Some parasitic plants that feed off of other plants are also considered herbivores....

Apr 30, 2018

The Oldest Known Tree in Europe Is Having a Growth Spurt

Perched high on a cliff in southern Italy, a bone-white pine tree has watched the Renaissance come and go, seen dozens of wars rage and resolve, and stood by as thousands of less-persistent organisms lived and died on the rocky slopes below. The tree, nicknamed Italus, has seen a lot....

Sep 19, 2016

5 Things to Know About Kratom

A recent announcement from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is causing an outcry: Users of a drug called kratom, which the DEA said it will ban, are arguing that the plant has beneficial effects for their health, according to the The Washington Post. The DEA announced in August that it...

Oct 24, 2016

Coral 'Twilight Zone' Reveals New Type of Photosynthesis

More than 200 feet (60 meters) below the ocean's surface, where the water is cold and only about 1 percent of the daylight above penetrates, is a dim, blue world filled with little-understood creatures. Now, researchers have discovered that the corals that inhabit this twilight zone have a never-before-seen adaptation...

Dec 7, 2016

California's Long Drought Has Killed 100 Million Trees

The lingering drought in California has killed more than 100 million trees, according to the U.S. Forest Service's latest aerial survey. The recent death count found that 62 million trees have died just this year in California, bringing the six-year total to more than 102 million. More than five years...

Dec 16, 2016

Newfound Plant Named for Music Legend Jimi Hendrix

Music icon Jimi Hendrix is famous for his many songs, including Purple Haze and The Wind Cries Mary, but now he'll also be remembered for an entirely different reason: Botanists have named a newly discovered species of rare, flowery succulent after him, a new study reports. The plant, named Dudleya...