When mould gets a grip on a building, it can hold it together.

Can plants help fight global warming? Nigel Chaffey looks to the roots.

Some saxifrages are almost literally out of this world.

What would you imagine was carried along the Silk Road(s), that ancient route that connected the far-East to the near-East and Europe? Silks? Well, yes, and spices, etc. (and not forgetting traffic in infectious human diseases). But those are tangible, tradable, items, ‘things’. What is being better appreciated nowadays is that it was also ideas […]

Not much of a story? Aren’t all trees sustainable [“avoiding depletion of natural resources”; “capable of being maintained at a steady level without exhausting natural resources or causing severe ecological damage“] by their very nature as natural entities? Yes, real, bona fide, natural, biological trees. But, this story concerns artificial trees* – and other miniature […]

Probably the one thing one could guess about an insectivorous plant is that it ‘eats’ insects. Take for example one of the most iconic entomophagous botanics of them all, the Venus fly-trap (Dionaea muscipula). The clue’s clearly there in the name; it traps – and consumes – flies, i.e. insects. Yes, it does. But, first, […]

What is octulose? And why is it about to be bigger? Well, according to Qingwei Zhang and Dorothea Bartels, it’s a “forgotten metabolite”. Yes, but what is it? Octulose is an 8-carbon sugar that occurs in plants (especially so-called resurrection plants such as Craterostigma, bacteria, yeast and animals. However, although its existence has been known […]

The more I learn about roots, the more amazing they appear. Not only do they provide essential support for, and anchorage of, the aerial, above-ground, parts of the plant, they are the prime organs for abstracting water and a wide range of chemicals from the soil and transporting those throughout the plant. Furthermore, their ancient […]

Not much I suspect. And it’s probably not that important that any of us do in the so-called developed world where we don’t need to hunt for meat using blowgun and poison-tipped darts. And it’s probably not as important nowadays for those living in areas where in days gone by that was a traditional method […]

It is sometimes claimed that laughter is the best medicine. Joking apart, it’s probably better documented, and arguably more evidence-based [e.g. The King’s Fund’s 2016 Report ‘Gardens and health: Implications for policy and practice’], that ‘communing with nature’, plants and greenness in particular, is more likely of benefit to those whose health is compromised in […]

At Cuttings HQ we love a new botany journal – even if it’s technically described as a serial. So, we were really pleased to find out about The Global Flora, whose first issue was launched in January 2018. Published by Plant Gateway Ltd, this new publishing initiative is intended as a “practical flora to vascular […]

What! That’s news?? Surely everybody knows that many plants are pollinated by bees? Hopefully, yes, but this item is not about that well-known plant-insect association. OK, but does it feature mammoths? No, but it does have an elephantine dimension. Having laboured long and hard to plant and grow crops – to feed the family, and […]