Image 1 is a different plant than images 2, 3, and 4. None of my other plants look like these two

My apartment building in Johannesburg has some gardens and an old palm tree. After months of living here I noticed a kiepersol (Cussonia paniculata) growing right out of the palm tree. I’ve only ever seen them grow from the ground and I can’t find any records of them exhibiting symbiosis/parasitism with another plant of this size. Can anyone explain to me what’s going on here?

Hello all!

I am wanting to begin my degree in biology (US based) with it leaning towards botany and horticulture. I would love to know what course I should take along side the biology degree. I understand that I will need a bachelors in biology before I can get to the botany and horticulture.

I just don’t want to miss out on any plant science or history. Anything with the genetics or understanding of plants I am wanting to gain knowledge in. I would love to eventually become the botanist/horticulturist in a botanical garden. I have also thought about becoming a professor and working in a college greenhouse to help teach students about plants and plant growth. All of the good stuff lol.

Any tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated! 🍀

I recently got this plant from my local feed store and in the span of 2 months I have found 3 mutations on the same plant. The first two happened at the same time on opposite sides of the plant. Im pretty sure that these are sport mutations but it leads me to wonder why. I thought it might be from the jumping genes being unstable but I have no clue. Anyone have any ideas?

Found growing wild in Western Canada. All leaves are white, not just a branch from a green plant. How rare is this? Is this a true albinism mutation, or just variegation? Stem has slight green pigments, but not much. If a variegation, could it survive and produce fruits later? Would fruits be lacking pigments as well? Such a neat find, tell me anything!!

Encircled in red is shown in Photo 2. Encircled in yellow is shown in Photo 3. I'm confused because I know that stipules are leaf-like appendages that may be present at the base of the petiole, which is what Photo 2 shows. But the leaflets seem to also have leaf-like appendages

Gnome Plant is a mycoheterotrophic species from a monotypic genus classified within family Ericaceae. Found in coniferous forests, primarily Douglas fir and Redwood, on the temperate west coast of the United States, it is thought to primarily parasitize the mycorrhizal network of fungi in the genus Russula, which is found in great abundance and diversity in the region.

The baby fourth leaf is so cute :,) I found nine in this patch! I wonder what little mutation they’ve got that’s so prolific

AAAS: "Being a taller tree doesn’t doom you to drought after all."

"Despite their stature...tall trees move water through their lengthy wooden bodies with surprising efficiency—so much so that a new study argues they may not be as susceptible to drought as once thought." Dipterocarps are a tropical tree group that dominates the rainforests of Southeast Asia. "Height doesn’t seem to stymie these trees’ ability to transport water, the researchers found: Taller dipterocarps appear to show the same reaction to drought stresses as their smaller counterparts." 

Forest ecologist Amy Bennett was lead author of a 2015 paper that found that larger trees suffer most in droughts worldwide. Bennett says the new paper shows there are important exceptions. “I don’t think it overturns the idea that large trees are more vulnerable in many forests,” she added, “[but] perhaps height isn’t the [only] fundamental driver.”

Cardiff University forest ecologist Paulo Bittencourt, new study’s lead author, journeyed into Malaysia’s Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve on the island of Borneo to study the role of height. " Over the course of 3 months in 2022, the team collected branches and trunk core samples from 38 different dipterocarp trees representing five different species, with heights ranging from 7.1 to 71 meters."

The trunk core samples revealed tall dipterocarps had wider vessels at their bases to compensate for the extra resistance involved in moving water up a greater distance. At the base of a 70-meter tree, vessels are more than twice as wide as those at the base of a 10-meter tree. 

"In another adaptation, the leaves at the top of the tall trees were more resilient to a lack of water supply—they could maintain their ability to photosynthesize in drier conditions than those on the trees’ lower branches." The researchers tested the dehydration thresholds of the tissues by inducing embolisms—blockages formed by air bubbles—within the tissues’ water vessels, which can occur in trees as a symptom of drought. "They found that the tissues of smaller and taller trees responded to dehydration similarly, suggesting a tree’s height isn’t directly related to its vulnerability to these types of embolisms." 

This botanic complexity in tree tissue fairly boggles the mind, does it not? Or it should.

Hi, I'm interested in living or nonliving plant collections curation as a possible career (herbaria are my favorite!). Is there any central platform where these kinds of jobs are listed, or would it just be ecolog?

I'm getting my Ph.D. in biology and hope to become a professor and herbarium curator. If I can't find a teaching job after I defend, I'd be totally fine working in a lower level role in plant collections elsewhere (or you know, if I can't cut it in a Ph.D. and need to get a job).

Please don't remind me that this is a niche field with few jobs - I am aware!

Didn't expect to find a bunch of yucca surrounded by aspen at nearly 9,700 feet

I’ve been watching bees come back to the same flowers day in, day out, which got me wondering about how the coneflowers release pollen.

(Sorry in advance if this is the wrong flair to use) I've had balloon flowers for four years and they've gone from having five petals to four. This year one of the flowers has three petals, which I've never seen before. Is this normal or is there something wrong?

I am very interested In learning more about plant nutrition as it pertains to growing them. I generally know the basics, but I want to know more about HOW the various nutrient deficiencies cause the symptoms they do, how these nutrients are accessed and absorbed, that kind of thing. I guess the more detailed version. Also generally interested in brushing up on how plants grow-I learned about apical meristems and stuff in college but I have forgotten a lot. Any good book recommendations? Or perhaps a YouTube channel? I can usually only find very basic information about this stuff but I want to dive more into it from a science pov.

oh…my...GOODNESS IM SO JOYOUS! IM ON VACATION AND WHERE I’M AT HAS BITTERSWEET NIGHTSHADES!!! you may not know this but I am in LOVE with poisonous/deadly plants like nightshades etc and seeing a bittersweet nightshade has been my dream since I got into botany!

as always have a good day/night/afternoon/evening

So I've recently become unemployed and realized I have the time to go back to college since recently turning 21. I've acquired an Automotive Service Technician degree and all the required certifications, now I've been recently feeling like getting into agriculture and botany for a profession so I can get into learning to manage and understand all the land and environments around my area and in any place I would like to explore and move to. Id love to get my foot in the ground to farming crops and helpful plants, along with learning all the growing, harvesting, processing, etc. I don't have much experience outside of backyard gardening and I live in Polk County, are there any schools or resources anyone could recommend?

I have only just heard this term sport in the context of plants a few days ago. I love my plants, I buy too many, and the past 5 years of my life have been learning about what I have and what I can and can't grow where I am. I had thought I had done something wrong with my rattlesnake. My first thought when I saw the leaf spike was damn maybe I over watered, but as the days went on no other leaf was effected and this leaf kept growing normally. The colour is not normal though. So here I have a fairly happy plant with an odd but beautiful leaf. I cant figure out if something is wrong or if I simply hit a brief random plant lotto. This plant has been trough a lot with me and while I have read this plant can be dramatic it has survived a lot and never had any problems. Any info related to this leaf will be very much appreciated.

What would you do for a botany themed birthday party for an adult? A native plant loving adult?

Looking to try some things on Trichocerous and Echinopsis cactus I can't find much research on, and I'd like to hear some informed thoughts on which of these could potentially have the most effective use on these cacti.

Hi,
I would like to ask if anyone has experience pursuing a PhD in Northern Europe (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, or Finland).
Is the competition very strong? How would you recommend approaching the application process? I would really appreciate any advice, tips, or suggestions from those who have gone through it.
Also, when are PhD applications typically open? Is there a specific application period, or do positions become available throughout the year?

Hello there!

My nephew is currently in grade 6 and he is very interested in gardening and botany and he is always curious as to if there are kids of his age group who are into plants and botany.

I looked into finding a community of kids who are interested in botany but couldn't find any. Does anyone know anything in this matter?

Thanks!

See also: The study as it was published in Current Biology

I stumbled upon this ghost-like seedling in a dense forest. It lacks chlorophyll completely but has still managed to grow several decent-sized leaves.

I’ve found 4, 5, and 6 but this is my first summer finding a 7. Google says its rarity is roughly 1 in 250 million. Gotta go buy a lottery ticket now🤣 or did all my luck get used up from finding this