News articles tagged with 'flower'
Orchid wears the scent of death
— 14 Mar 2011 19:57 | BiologySex and violence, or at least death, are the key to reproduction for the orchid Satyrium pumilum. Research led by Timotheues van der Niet at the University of KwaZulu-Natal shows that…
AgriLife Research scientists trumpeting possible new adaptation of tropical flower
— 4 Mar 2011 13:20 | BiologyTexas AgriLife Research scientists are trying to bring more beauty to the colder regions of the state by breeding winter-hardiness into a tropical ornamental plant, the angel's trumpet…
Biologists discover 'control centre' for sperm production
— 2 Feb 2011 16:16 | BiologyBiologists at the University of Leicester have published results of a new study into the intricacies of sex in flowering plants…
Secret life of bees now a little less secret
— 1 Feb 2011 19:21 | BiologyMany plants produce toxic chemicals to protect themselves against plant-eating animals, and many flowering plants have evolved flower structures that prevent pollinators such as bees…
The production of plant pollen is regulated by several signalling pathways
— 26 Jan 2011 18:43 | BiologyPlants producing flower pollen must not leave anything to chance. The model plant thale cress (Arabidopsis), for instance, uses three signalling pathways in concert with partially overlapping…
Wildflower colours tell butterflies how to do their jobs
— 9 Jan 2011 19:12 | BiologyThe recipe for making one species into two requires time and some kind of separation, like being on different islands or something else that discourages gene flow between the two budding…
Gatekeeper for tomato pollination identified
— 4 Jan 2011 20:38 | BiologyTomato plants use similar biochemical mechanisms to reject pollen from their own flowers as well as pollen from foreign but related plant species, thus guarding against both inbreeding…
What 'pine' cones reveal about the evolution of flowers
— 14 Dec 2010 20:57 | BiologyFrom southern Africa's pineapple lily to Western Australia's swamp bottlebrush, flowering plants are everywhere. Also called angiosperms, they make up 90 percent of all land-based,…
FReD can help explain how a bee sees!
— 12 Dec 2010 15:34 | BiologyBees can see colours but they perceive the world differently to us, including variations in hue that we cannot ourselves distinguish…
Sticky snack for elephant-shrews
— 17 Nov 2010 11:29 | BiologyLong-nosed Cape rock elephant-shrews are fond of sticky treats, according to Dr Petra Wester from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Her investigations show for the first…