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Detail of a plate illustration of medicinal plants published in the 1930s in a botanical reference book by Éditions Larousse.
botanical gardens

Addressing the Colonial Legacy of the World's Scientific Botanical Collections

Some 70 percent of specimens are located in developed countries with colonial histories. A new project seeks to make them more accessible.
Daniel Park August 14, 2023
Osby, Sweden

Sweden's Oldest Olive Tree

A centuries-old olive tree thrives in a small botanical garden.
In 1938, Elzada Clover (first row, second from left) and Lois Jotter (first row, second from right) were the first non-Indigenous women to raft the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.
science

The Historic Grand Canyon Adventure Two Women Had For Science

Botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter braved rapids and steep cliffs to catalog numerous plant species.
Sarah Durn May 29, 2023
The last wild Round Island hurricane palm stands nearly 30 feet tall, towering above other palms.
islands

This Mauritius Palm Is the Last of Its Kind in the Wild

Dedicated scientists are going to extremes to save this rare plant from extinction.
Ryan Truscott May 10, 2023
One of the earliest works of botanical horror, written by H.G. Wells in 1894, featured a fictional orchid with a taste for human blood.
horror

What Stories of Scary Plants and Other Botanical Horrors Say About Us

From bloodthirsty orchids to body-snatching pods, fictional flora are often symbols of societal fears.
Kate Golembiewski May 4, 2023
The carnivorous plant <em>Nepenthes lowii</em>, found only in Borneo, is able to thrive in a harsh, high-elevation ecosystem because it has adapted to eat animal droppings.
carnivorous plants

These Toilet-Shaped Carnivorous Plants Thrive By Eating Poop

Some of Borneo's pitcher plants took insects off the menu in favor of mammal droppings. It's an evolutionary triumph.
Gemma Tarlach January 20, 2023
A farmer in Ethiopia cradles a handful of maslin, mixed grains including different varieties of wheat and barley that are grown together.
science

This Nearly Lost Ancient Grain Tradition Could Be the Future of Farming

A past global staple you've never heard of, maslins are poised for a comeback.
Gemma Tarlach October 13, 2022
Birch Alley
Uppsala, Sweden

Birch Alley

A collection of birches from across Sweden.
Rebolj, with some foraged finds. "Flowers will call me when they want to be picked," she says.
plants

The Mountain Mixologist of the Slovenian Alps

Tanja Rebolj, or "the blonde witch," transforms foraged finds into healing botanical liquors.
Noah Charney September 16, 2022
International Water Lily Garden
San Angelo, Texas

International Water Lily Garden

An oasis of lilies cultivated by the "Indiana Jones of Water Lilies."
Luther Burbank's original cottage, open 9 AM to noon Wednesdays by tour.
Sebastopol, California

Luther Burbank Experiment Farm

Home to an apple tree that can produce 25 different varieties of fruit.
Vendor Mónica Adriana Quimbayo has sold herbs and other plants at her stall in Plaza Samper Mendoza since she was 16.
science

This Bogotá Market Comes Alive Only at Night, Full of Ancient Plant Lore and Astonishing Biodiversity

Farmers and foragers set up at sunset to sell hundreds of species valued in traditional medicine and ritual.
María Paula Rubiano A. May 25, 2022
Metal silhouettes of little readers adorn the garden grounds.
Fort Worth, Texas

Southwest Regional Library Demo Garden

This library is a reader's paradise and a plant lover's dream.
A volunteer with the reforestation effort walks through a woodland near Amman. Today, only about one percent of Jordan is forested.
forests

To Resurrect Jordan's Lost Forests, Plant a Seed in Hearts and Minds

Environmentalists see small reforestation pilot sites around the capital of Amman as a first step to a greener future.
Jason Ruffin April 7, 2022
forests

A Journey Into a Wondrous World Hidden Deep in the Congo Forest

A remote wedge of wilderness is home to trailblazing elephants, epic trees, and the only chimps and gorillas known to share a meal.
John Reid and Thomas Lovejoy April 1, 2022
A detail of a plant with blue berries, from Marianne North's 1876 painting <em>Curious Plants from the Forest of Matang, Sarawak, Borneo.</em>
science

A Botanical Mystery Solved, After 146 Years

How a young illustrator’s attention to detail—and a determined Victorian woman's legacy—led to the discovery of a new species in an old painting.
Gemma Tarlach March 29, 2022
Georgina Mace changed the way scientists and policymakers view biodiversity.
science

The Ecologist Who Made Biodiversity Count

Georgina Mace helped change the way both scientists and policymakers see living things, including the most vulnerable.
Gemma Tarlach March 21, 2022
Isabella Abbott was a prolific researcher who changed our understanding of seaweed and discovered hundreds of new species.
science

How the 'First Lady of Seaweed' Changed Science

Isabella Abbott, the first native Hawaiian woman to earn a doctorate in science, rewrote the book on her beloved limu.
Shoshi Parks March 11, 2022