Cattle in a forest

Silvopasture; Or, Why Are There Cows in the Woods?

Cattle grazing on invasive plants in longleaf pine forests could benefit ecosystems and farmers alike.
Jacques Cartier at Hochelaga engraving from A popular history of the United States: from the first discovery of the western hemisphere by the Northmen, to the end of the first century of the union of the states; preceded by a sketch of the prehistoric period and the age of the mound builders

Plant of the Month: Tree of Life

Indigenous people in North America used the conifer as an effective cure for scurvy during cold winters.
Dried flowers

Which Flowers Bloom First and Why?

A massive collection of dried flower specimens demonstrates that climate change disrupts the timing of spring blooms.
A beached whale painting

The Tragicomedy of Johanna the Super Whale

How a beached cetacean triggered one whale of a controversy.
Small white flowers bloom on the end of a cherry tree branch near the base of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC.

Is Your Favorite Tree an Invasive Species?

Some superstar trees in the US are actually invasive to their ecosystems. Blossoming cherry trees, for example.
Watercolor No.185, Marsh Ragwort

Victorian Botanical Paintings

Amateur botanist Margaret Rebecca Dickinson painted the wildflowers she collected in the English countryside.
Litograph of A. Faguet, Dracaena stricta

Plant of the Month: Cordyline

Plantfluencers? Back in the nineteenth century, it was the dazzling leaves of cordyline that set trends in domestic style.
Plain illuminated partially covered by fog, soft lights

Shedding Light on the Cost of Light Pollution

Artificial light has a huge variety of harmful effects on ecosystems. Scientists are exploring ways to mitigate the damage.
A dead tree in a forest

What Happens to a Tree When It Dies?

Decomposing trees on the forest floor become "dead wood"—a part of ecosystems that researchers are only beginning to understand.
Fuchsia

Plant of the Month: Fuchsia

Too popular for its own good? The career of a flower so powerfully beautiful, fashion would inevitably declare it over.