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The surprising origin of sprouts, the vegetable we either love or hate

14 December 2022

Sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage and a dozen other vegetables are all the same species, Brassica oleracea. Now we have finally discovered their common ancestor

‘Near impossible’ plant-growing technique could revolutionise farming

22 December 2021

For the first time, grafting has been made to work in monocots, a type of plant including oats, wheats and bananas – and it might improve disease tolerance among these important crops

Taller and prettier plants are more likely to be studied by botanists

10 May 2021

Plants that are taller and more attractive are more likely to be studied by botanists, suggests an analysis of research conducted over the past 45 years

Rainforest romanticism is derailing our hunt for new drugs

20 June 2018

The more pristine the forest, the more attractive it looks to conservationists. The reality is more complex, argues an eclectic new book, The Ethnobotany of Eden

Harsh: Europe's cannabis died just as the first farmers arrived

17 May 2018

Cannabis – the source of the drug marijuana – virtually disappeared from Europe just as farmers arrived, so they didn’t get the chance to grow it for another 4500 years

It is worth valuing trees, but all deserve our respect

9 May 2018

The benefits trees bring to our lives are now being quantified by a band of treeconomists, an approach that could help us give trees the respect they deserve

Treeconomics: How to put a fair price tag on urban forests

9 May 2018

We can now calculate the exact value of a tree, from shade to beauty. Doing so could be the best way to protect them – and plan the forests of the future

The world's tallest tree costs more than a private island

9 May 2018

We valued 7 of the world's most famous trees, from strangler figs draping ancient ruins to a 9000-year-old spruce. The most pricey comes in at £11 million

Magical regrowth: Kew Gardens opens revamped Temperate House

3 May 2018

Restoring the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse to its former architectural glory at the UK’s famous gardens has also reinvented it for the 21st century

The spiky but stunning burrs that litter the South African coast

4 April 2018

Walk barefoot through the grass in South Africa and you may step on one of these spiky seeds, which lie in wait, hoping to catch a ride to someplace new