Where does the best pollen for reproduction come from? For Anigozanthos manglesii it comes from surprisingly close neighbours.

Why would you need a massive flower to imitate a tiny fly? A new study of a Peruvian orchid reveals something strange is going on.

Within plants live endophytic fungi. Some cause disease in insects, while others seem to have no effect. Yet a new meta-analysis shows even these 'neutral' fungi could act as bodyguards for plants.

The Overstory by Richard Powers, 2018. William Heinemann. As a would-be botanical educator who’s reviewed a lot of botany texts over the years, I don’t really have time to review – or just read – ‘novels’. But, having been impressed with the intelligent-plant-based science fictionesque novel Semiosis last year, and hearing that Richard Powers’ new […]

What is the point of teaching, if someone isn’t going to use that knowledge? A new paper by Bethan Stagg addresses that with a study that not only looks at how well students can learn, but also encourage them to learn more in the future. Meeting Linnaeus: improving comprehension of biological classification and attitudes to […]

A new tool links models of different languages and scales to create entire plants, fields, or regions in silico.

When it comes to meeting the projected 70% increase in food demand in 2050, Dr. Xinguang Zhu considers photosynthetic efficiency to be an unexplored opportunity to deliver significant yield increases. Backing this are two recent studies reporting 15% and 40% increased crop biomass achieved by manipulating photosynthetic efficiency. The targets for both of those studies […]

Evaluation of a generic biomass partitioning model demonstrates accurate temporal patterns of biomass and nitrogen partitioning.

in silico Plants is a peer-reviewed, open access journal publishing research pertaining to all aspects of plant modelling.

What is the most important part of a scientific paper? Arguably, it’s the Results section– although there are those who might propose that it’s the authors (scientists after all are humans and appreciate having their names associated with the science – especially if it is deemed to be first-rate and published in a high impact […]

High up in the Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage Site in South Africa, and unexpected visitor is changing ideas of what animals can be pollinators.

How well do we know succulent plants? According to a new paper by Dr Olwen Grace of Kew Gardens, not as well as we should.