Ancient Gene-Hoarding Shrub

An ancient flowering, evergreen shrub (Amborella) that only grows on a single Pacific archipelago off the eastern coast of Australia has absorbed the entire mitochondrial genes of a moss, three green algae and several hundred genes from an unknown number of flowering plants for a bloated genome orders of magnitude larger than any other known plant.

Metal-Eating Plant Found

Scientists have found a new species of plant (Rinorea niccolifera) in the Philippines that sustains itself by consuming nickel with its leaves accumulating 18,000 ppm without being poisoned, a level that is up to a thousand times greater than other plants.

1500-Year-Old Moss Lives

Researchers have demonstrated moss frozen in ice on the Antarctic Peninsula for at least 1530 years can be revived and continue to grow, showing that a vital element of ecosystems can survive long-term, millennial-scale ice ages.

Gold in Tree Leaves

Researchers have found gold particles in the leaves of gum trees (Eucalyptus spp.) in Australia, with the trees acting as hydraulic pumps to draw the metals from underground sources and providing a possible new method for identifying mineral deposits.

Fruits, Vegetables Still Alive

New research shows that fruits and vegetables can respond to circadian cycles up to about a week after harvest, adapting their internal levels of nutrients and protective chemical compounds in response to predator cycles.

Maximum Height of Trees

Scientists studying the leaves of various tree species have developed a relationship between leaf size and tree height, discovering that at heights above about 100 meters any leaf size ceases to be viable due to the structure of the tree trunk and the internal transfer of nutrients.

Unknown Plant Communications

Experiments involving chili peppers (Capsicum annuum) and fennel plants (Foeniculum vulgare) show the peppers sprout more quickly around the fennel even when enclosed in an airtight box preventing chemical transfer, suggesting an as-yet unknown sense may exist between plants to facilitate communication.

Grasslands Most Diverse

A new study has overturned conventional wisdom and found that ordinary grasslands contain the greatest number of plant species per 50 square meter area, more than tropical rain forests, with the grasslands of Eastern Europe and Argentina proving to be the most diverse in the world.

Plant Grown from Ancient Seeds

Living plants of an extinct species of narrow-leafed campion (Silene stenophylla) have been grown from 32,000-year-old seeds discovered in the burrow of an Arctic ground squirrel in northeastern Siberia, the oldest plant by far ever grown from ancient tissue.

New "Porto Potty" Flower

A new flower has been discovered in Madagascar of the same genus as the "corpse flower," this species (Amorphophallus perrieri) nicknamed the "porto potty" flower after its strong stench of rotting meat and feces used to attract insects.

Plant with Underground Leaves

Scientists have identified the plants Philcoxia minensis of the Brazilian savanna as having leaves that grow underground and serve as traps for catching and digesting roundworms in their nutrient-poor environment.

Rensch's Rule Holds for Plants

Researchers have confirmed that Rensch's rule, which states that males are larger in big-bodied species like humans and females are larger in small-bodied species like insects, applies just as well for dioecious plant species.

"Satellite Dish" Plant

A fruit-bearing plant discovered in Cuba (Marcgravia evenia) that relies upon bats for pollination has developed leaves with shapes that maximize bats' echolocation signals and attract the flying mammals, the first such adaptation seen in the plant world.

New Carnivorous Plant

A new species of carnivorous pitcher plant (Nepenthes holdenii) has been discovered in the remote Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia, with a unique adaptation of an underground tuber to sprout new pitcher-bearing vines after times of drought or forest fires.

Spontaneous GMOs

Although genetically modified organisms (GMO) are the subject of fierce moral and political debate, a new study demonstrates that a transfer on the genetic level can occur naturally among plant species, most likely borne by a virus or other parasite some 700,000 years ago.

600,000 Plant Species Cut

About 600,000 duplicate and erroneous plant species names are being eliminated in an effort to consolidate and develop a single inventory of the global plant species, ultimately with the goal of streamlining conservation and research efforts.

Acacia Plant Controls Ants

The African acacia plant has been found to secrete chemical signals that send the ants living on them into a defensive frenzy when under stress, revealing a rather complex symbiotic relationship between plant and insect.

New Species in Mekong River

Researchers discovered a total of 163 new plant and animal species last year in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia, including a fanged frog that preys on birds, an exotic leopard gecko with large cat-like eyes, and a tiger-striped pit viper.

Carnivorous Plant Discovered

A new species of giant carnivorous pitcher plant, named Nepenthes attenboroughii after naturalist David Attenborough, has been discovered in the highlands of the central Philippines.