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How to Enjoy Botanical Gardens
Botanical gardens can be a beautiful, quiet activity almost any time of year, but it takes a bit of preparation to fully enjoy botanical gardens. Botanical gardens are a great place to learn about flower and tree identification, local sacred plants, and rare plants....
Why Tree Identification Is Easier Than Ever
Tree identification can be a fun way to learn more about the plants around you. It also can be frustrating and cumbersome thanks to the world’s incredible array of plant species. On top of that, field guides can be a pain to carry around, and aren’t always...
All Your Questions About Instant Flower Identification, Answered
As spring reaches much of the northern hemisphere, you might notice more and more flowers blooming. You might notice some pretty pink flowers in the trees near your bus stop, an unusual red flower on your hike, or small blue flowers along the sidewalk. Identifying...
Seed Banks During Drought: How Plants Save During a Recession
California wildflowers build seed banks during drought the same way a prudent employee saves money during a recession. According to a study published in Ecology in March of 2018, California’s wildflowers increased seed production over 200% during the 2012-2015...
How to Grow a Medicinal Garden
Growing a garden is a fun and rewarding pastime. Cultivating medicinal garden plants takes your backyard dirt patch to a whole new level. Luckily, it’s easy to plan a medicinal garden that’s both lovely and useful. Many common garden plants have medicinal qualities....
How a Parasitic Plant Hacks the Genes of its Host
Plants are a lot more devious than we once thought. Scientists recently discovered that Dodder, a problematic parasitic plant that causes millions of dollars of damage each year to crops, can basically hack into its host’s genes. You read that right. A parasitic plant...
How to Find, Use, and Identify Common Sacred Plants
Almost every culture and religion out there make use of sacred plants. People revere these sacred plants for their medicinal qualities, culinary use, healing power, or cultural purposes. Learning about the history and culture of plants is part of the study of...
How Botany Twitter and a Bumblebee Rediscovered a Rare Plant
In June of last year, botany Twitter made a pretty big discovery. Rather than squabbling about politics or sharing ridiculous memes, botany Twitter actually made a contribution to science. It all started when Professor Chris Martine shared a photo of a bumblebee on...
Low-Light Houseplants That Will Survive Your Dark Office Cubicle
A few low-light houseplants can turn a bare, sterile space into one that’s much more inviting. Indoor plants improve concentration and can relieve stress. Just looking at a plant every so often can help you focus. Plants even filter out toxins and release fresh...
The 3 Best Hiking Apps to Use in 2018
A few years ago, if you told me that there were apps that made hiking better, I’d have laughed in your face. The point of hiking was to disconnect and escape the constant buzzes, chirps, and little red flags of my busy life. The concept of the “best hiking apps”...
Can We Measure Plant Intelligence? Science Tackles a Question We Didn’t Know We Should Ask.
Humans are pretty biased when it comes to evaluating the intelligence of other species. We only recently admitted that our closest relatives use tools. Many people still struggle to understand that other species can feel many emotions and even have culture. The more...
How Moss Removes Arsenic from Water
Scientists in Sweden just discovered a species of moss removes arsenic from water, taking the usefulness of plants up a few notches in my book. While it’s old news that plants turn carbon dioxide into oxygen, arsenic removal from a plant is really uncommon. ...
Ethnobotany Lets You Explore Useful Plants, History, and Culture All at Once
As children, we’re all interested in ethnobotany. We point at vegetables and ask where they came from, we put flowers into our mouths and make play of poultice making. For many, that curiosity fades later in life. Field botany textbooks can be cumbersome, and learning...
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