The study of plant life; e.g. angiosperms, gymnosperms, bryophytes, pteridophytes, and algae.
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Resource plant anatomy/lifecycle vocabulary
I've been curious about a lot of vocabulary words in the world of botany. I've had quite a bit of trouble finding somewhere online to help me out, but I'm having some trouble finding a resource like ...
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0answers
34 views
Why aren't antheridia and archegonia touching?
Antheridia and archegonia are the two male and female gametangia, respectively, and they are found in bryophytes. To cause fertilization, usually a thin film of water must be present for the sperm ...
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1answer
112 views
Can plants get cancer?
I can't think of any reason why plants wouldn't be able to get cancer, but I've never heard of a plant growing a tumor. I've also never seen a plant with a noticeable abnormal growth. Can plants get ...
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0answers
27 views
What controls leaf senescence in deciduous tree species, and how can I predict it?
If I want to predict litterfall, what data do I need to collect, and what statistical model might I use?
For example, I might use the following coding to record phenological stage every other day, or ...
3
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1answer
37 views
Why seeds won't sprout given excess water?
What would cause a seed to not sprout despite showing signs of germination given excess water? Oxygen, temperature, and light were sufficient for germination and sprouting in seeds of a slightly ...
4
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1answer
122 views
How does plant grafting work?
Plant grafting is a process whereby a piece of one plant is inserted into another and results in a change of the original plant. For example, grafting a piece of a lemon tree into a bitter orange tree ...
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2answers
154 views
What's the difference between a plant and an animal?
Are there some living things where the distinction between plant and animal is blurry or unclear? I wouldn't know where to put something like yeast. I also thought of photosynthesis, but then I ...
3
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2answers
48 views
What chemical or biochemical agents do plants use to inhibit each other's growth?
As I just learned, allelopathy is the action by which plants regulate the growth of other nearby plants.
I have hear of ethylene is a general signal for growth and fruit ripening in particular, but ...
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1answer
31 views
Do plant-plant interactions inhibit growth?
Plants produce lots of compounds that inhibit (kill or irritate) microorganisms and insects. They have defenses against plant viruses and infections.
What kinds of compounds or hormones to plants ...
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1answer
43 views
Is it ok for Chili pepper plant's fruits to fall into its soil?
I wonder if Chili pepper's fruits which fall into the soil near the plant will harm it, since the peppers are so spicy for people.
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1answer
48 views
What mechanisms tell temperate trees when to drop leaves?
I've been looking around and cannot find a definite answer on what it is that tells trees to change their metabolism and drop leaves. I see that such activity is called Deciduous.
What interests me ...
2
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2answers
79 views
Filamentous algae - what exactly am I looking at?
I have just taken some images with my light microscope at 400x of (what I think is) some form of filamentous algae from a local pond.
Now, I think I am looking at a single cell (centre) with some ...
7
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1answer
206 views
What's the name of the fibrous strands that hold the seeds in a pumpkin?
If you cut open a pumpkin, the seeds are suspended inside the pumpkin by some fibrous, slimey strands. You can see them in the middle of this sliced-open pumpkin:
I'm writing a post for the ...
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1answer
20 views
Mutation in axillary buds of trees overcoming self-incompatability?
I seem to recall from either reading or lecture that there have been instances of trees that are self-incompatible accumulating enough mutations in an axillary bud that the resulting branch was able ...
3
votes
1answer
115 views
Does cooking or ripening reduce the concentration of solanine in nightshade?
I recall a story from one of my Botany professors where he encountered a woman picking Solanum dulcamara (nightshade) berries. When he asked her what she was doing with them, she responded that her ...
2
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2answers
122 views
Why is the floral biodiversity of grazed grassland higher than that of mown grassland?
I have collected some data to compare the biodiversity of a field in which the plagioclimax is maintained by machine mowing with a field in which the plagioclimax is maintained by sheep grazing.
What ...
7
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1answer
222 views
Why are some berries poisonous?
In my understanding, the evolutional function of berries is to be eaten and pood out somewhere else, so that the seeds of the plant spread. Is this so? Then why are some berries poisonous?
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2answers
893 views
How do trees use Adhesion and Cohesion to move water against gravity?
I have an AP Bio class where I have to name 3 properties of water and I chose adhesion and cohesion for one of them. I'm having trouble finding out how exactly trees use adhesion and cohesion to move ...
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2answers
213 views
What kind of fruit is this?
Just spotted this fruit while walking to school. It's the size of a small coin.The taste is almost sour and tangy and somewhat sweet (I only tried one of them and very little of it). I admit, ...
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0answers
82 views
How does a plant decide when to grow a branch?
As a plant grows, at some point the first branch forms. As it continues, branches grow new branches, and so on, in a seemingly random way. Is it random, or is it driven by the environment (heat or ...
3
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0answers
54 views
Are mature trees as susceptible to mutation from exposure to radiation as seedlings?
If a plant, say a ficus or a teak, as a sapling were exposed to radiation, and a tree of the same species were present at the same distance, which of the two would be more likely to mutate?
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1answer
190 views
Photosynthetic Pigments vs. Chloroplasts
What is the difference between Photosynthetic Pigments and Chloroplasts? I know plants have both but Prokaryotes (Bacteria and Archeae) only have the former.
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3answers
142 views
Most suitable biodiversity index
I am conducting an investigation into the effect of two different grass management techniques (grazing vs. machine-mowing) upon floral biodiversity.
I have collected my data and now need to process ...
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2answers
124 views
How deep in the soil can a seed be placed and still develop into a plant/tree?
The selected answer to How does a plant grow before photosynthesis is possible? indicates that a sprout grows beneath the soil using the food stored within the seed.
Does this limited ready food ...
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0answers
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Photosynthesis/Plants Question [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How long will a vegetable live for after being harvested?
Exactly when do plants "die," as in stop functioning to live? If, for example, you pick a plant and start to ...
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1answer
63 views
Do any plants exhibit hormonal changes similar to puberty?
Just what the title states.
Are there any plants/trees that exhibit a growth spurt at a definite interval after the shoot appears?
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1answer
458 views
Online course on Plant Taxonomy and Physiology
After following a course in Permaculture, I realised that if I want to get serious about it, I need to be able to distinguish plants. So I am looking for an online Video course on Plant Taxonomy and ...
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1answer
4k views
How to store vegetables in the refrigerator: In plastic bags or not?
My wife and I are having a debate similar to this one:
I claim that it's better to take the fresh veggies out of the bags and put them in the crisper with humidity control because:
That's what the ...
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1answer
95 views
List of species recently found of economic value
Is there a website or organization cataloging lists of biological species to have been recently found of great economic value? For example, a plant that wasn't of economic relevance a while ago but ...
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2answers
832 views
Did animals evolve from plants?
Did animals evolve from plants? Did the animals' ancentors have chloroplasts in their cells?
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1answer
208 views
Do trees age on a microscopic level?
Most animals age via at least two mechinisms:
at a "macroscopic" level, basically wear and tear to the point where (on evolutionary time scales) it's more genetically advantageous to optimize for ...
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1answer
147 views
Why do some trees have a life span, while some don't?
I have heard that there is no limit on the growth of trees, but then why do some trees, such as boxelders and poplars, tend to live shorter than redwoods, for example? Some advertisements for improved ...
4
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1answer
99 views
How do plants intake minerals through their leaves?
How do plants intake the fertilizer when it is sprayed all over the leaf surface as a foliar feed?
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1answer
316 views
Does the use of “var”, “x”, and/or “ssp” in a scientific name provide specific information?
What exactly does it mean when a plant has a scientific name that specifies a vairety, for example Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides, or when the name includes an "x", as in Populus ...
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4answers
809 views
Do trees really get a large share of their mass from the carbon in the air?
I remember hearing that trees and other plants actually obtain a large amount of their mass from the carbon floating in the air, not the ground beneath them. Does the makeup of air actually contain ...
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1answer
34 views
Why are some plants frost tender?
Why do some plants have the ability to stand frost, while others can't? Does it have to do with the size of the water vacuoles in the plant cells?
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2answers
59 views
Is it possible to grow any kind of plant soilless (hydroponics)?
Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture and is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. [wikipedia]
My question is if is it possible to grow any kind of ...
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4answers
351 views
How do trees manage to grow equally in all directions?
I was walking down a road with these beautifully huge trees when this question occurred to me.
Large trees with many thick branches have to grow equally in all directions, or they would tip over. Is ...
9
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4answers
160 views
What was the reason for some plant and animals to become giant in course of evolution?
The dinosaurs, mammoths, giant plants etc are known to be bigger than modern animals. I wonder why they had been lived and why they are not living now? I really don't know much but is it something ...
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1answer
113 views
Why do plants' leaves become enlarged in low light areas?
Why do almost all plants in shade have a smaller stem structure and larger leaf than that same species grown in a well lit, sunny area?
2
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1answer
129 views
Why do the sick and unhealthy trees leaf out first in spring?
It's spring. The time of year that trees start to leaf out. I have been watching them, and noticed an interesting pattern. The unhealthy trees of a species leafs out first. I've noticed this ...
9
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1answer
79 views
Why do some fruits have a much wider range of acceptable sizes than others?
Some fruits such as pumpkins can grow to be 100 lbs. Under different conditions, the same variety of pumpkin can produce a 15 lb. fruit. Both plants are healthy, and look the same except for their ...
5
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1answer
204 views
Do immature fruits perform photosynthesis?
Most immature fruits are green: peppers, pine cones, plums, lots of them. I want to know if the green is from chlorophyll in the cells. Do the fruit cells perform photosynthesis? When you cover a ...
7
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1answer
77 views
Can fruit tissue be cultured and grown independent from the plant?
Can fruit tissue be grown in a tissue culture as is done to other plant tissues? From the answer to this question, I learned that fruit is alive. Could it be possible to manufacture fruit products ...
7
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1answer
257 views
Can any plant regenerate missing tissue?
I have not yet found a plant that, when an insect eats a hole in one of its leaves, it can regenerate the lost tissue. Many plants will grow a new stem if the old one is cut, but it is not a perfect ...
9
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1answer
438 views
What's the effect of oxygen deficit on plants?
As I know all cells require oxygen. So my question is how efficiently can plants operate in no-oxygen atmosphere? Do all plants produce enough oxygen for themselves? Can they consume their own oxygen ...
10
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1answer
113 views
(How) does coppicing fundamentally alter tree growth?
I am interested in adding the ability to model coppice tree production to a model of perennial crops (Miguez et al 2008)..
Implementing the biomass pools and allocation parameters required for tree ...
2
votes
1answer
77 views
If only dicots have pith, what is the foam in the middle of cornstalks?
I've heard that the only plants that have pith are dicots, because of the shape of their vascular bundle. If that is true, what is the foam inside of the corn plants, which are monocots?
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1answer
190 views
If the xylem of a woody plant is composed of dead tissue, how does sapwood become heartwood?
If the xylem of a tree is composed entirely of dead tissue, then that means the sapwood is dead. If so, how does it transform into heartwood, and what starts the process?
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1answer
157 views
How do white Caladiums perform enough photosynthesis to support their mass?
In some white caladiums, there is less than a square inch of green space spread over the whole leaf. How do these plants perform the photosynthesis necessary to support the large leaves, the roots, ...
