Science & Nature

Flowers are the means of sexual reproduction in angiosperms, those plants that produce seeds within an ovary. Flowers can contain male or female sex organs, or both. Depending on the species,...

Seed plants include not only flowering plants, but also conifers. Scientifically known as angiosperms and gymnosperms, these plants are distributed worldwide and now dominate the plant kingdom.

Chlorophyll, the main photosynthetic pigment in green plants, does more than give plants their green color; it also absorbs light, which allows plants to convert solar energy into chemical energy...

Life on Earth, including plant life, evolved in the oceans. Eventually, plants worked their way onto land, at first hugging the shoreline. Plants require water for food production and...

Spores and seeds are both methods of plant reproduction. Spores are produced by plants that produce asexually, seeds by those that use methods of sexual reproduction. Both are meant to scatter...

Care for plants and animals in their natural environment is the goal of environmental managers. Management of resources is a balancing act of leveraging the needs of the plants and animals in...

Plants use photosynthesis as a means to make their own food. By converting water and carbon dioxide into sugars and starches, plants not only take care of their own needs, but nourish countless...

A rose is a subdivision of the larger category of flowering plants, which are defined by their ability to produce flowers. Therefore a rose is considered to be just one type of the many different...

Flowers are all about one thing: reproduction. Angiosperms, or flowering plants, make their showy flowers the centerpiece of their strategy for success in sexual reproduction.

Locating groundwater and fresh water springs is not a difficult task, but it does take a diligent eye. There are several above-ground clues that will tell you where there is water, and carefully...

Animals and plants are both categories, or kingdoms, of living organisms. Typically, these organism groups are considered to be quite different from each other. Plants are generally fixed to the...

Conservation and government groups around the country advocate that homeowners plant native plants in their landscaping because of the benefits they can bring. Native plants play an important role...

Exotic plants are a problem in many areas of North America as well as the rest of the world. Sometimes called invasive, exotic plants can wreak havoc on ecosystems by out-competing native plants...

Wax flowers, also known as hoya flowers, are tropical, ornamental plants that bear star shaped flowers that are very fragrant. There are over 200 species of these perennial evergreens. Hoya...

Tropical plants must be able to withstand copious amounts of moisture and adapt their leaf structure to maximize their use of available sunlight for photosynthesis, the process by which most...

Although deserts have harsh climates, plants and flowers have developed adaptations to survive these difficult conditions. Many desert flowers are annuals, while others are designed to repel...

If you want to learn about the different varieties of seaweed in your coastal area you should collect seaweed. Our oceans contain species of seaweed as numerous as plants that grow on dry land. In...

The use of aquatic plants to treat wastewater is by no means new to science, but the potential benefits of this purification process have only recently begun to be explored in depth.

A pond is an example of an aquatic freshwater ecosystem. Ponds are home to variety of floating and rooted aquatic plants. These plant species can be found living on the pond's surface, below water...

Ponds and other small, stagnant bodies of water require just the right balance of plant and animal life to thrive. They are miniature ecosystems, containing a whole food chain of organisms from...

The answer to this question is just as simple and complex as the subject that it addresses: woody plants. To find out the answer, it is necessary to focus on the difference between monocots and...

Ginseng is an herbaceous perennial and is used for medicinal purposes, especially in Eastern cultures. Because so much of the herb is being harvested and because of continuing deforestation, the...

In a healthy pond, approximately 10 to 20 percent of the pond floor is occupied by aquatic plants. Pond vegetation promotes pond health by providing fish with food, oxygen, and shelter for bedding...

Now that the distribution of cultivated plants is worldwide, the identification of any particular plant that you might come across can be a daunting task. For example, right in your front yard,...

So, you want to try growing your own garden this year? There's nothing like eating fresh strawberries, lettuce or tomatoes from your own home. Perhaps vegetables or flowers? Save some money by...

Healthy plants tend to create much more food than they can immediately use. The excess food is stored as sugars and starches in various parts of the plants. These stores provide a source of...

Plant hybrids are the result of sexual reproduction between plants from two different taxa or species. Not all plant hybrids are sterile, but many are. Sterility in plant hybrids is most often the...

Many plants are made easier to identify by their flowers. Flower field guides are generally organized by color, and amateur botanists of all ages can normally make an identification fairly...

No one knows exactly how many different medicinal plants are used in the world today, but we do know that medicinal plants are enormously important in both traditional and Western medicine....

There are thousands of birds and plants that are at serious risk of becoming extinct. Due to their classifications of being either essential or nonessential there are 750 types of plants that are...

Nothing adds an element of beauty to an aquarium better than live plants. However, many people do not attempt the use of live plants because they believe the plants are difficult to grow. Aquarium...

To provide adequate care for your eucalyptus plant, you must first decide whether you intend to keep it in a pot permanently, or on the ground. If it is to go on the ground, plant it when it is...

The Corps of Discovery, headed by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, was instructed by President Thomas Jefferson to describe the geography, ecology and cultures of the great unknown tract the...

Life on earth is dependent on visible light radiation. Without it, food chains would fall apart and surface temperatures would plummet; although visible light is integral to our survival and is...

Pressing flowers and leaves is a great way to preserve the beauty of nature, but unfortunately, the plants are very brittle once they are fully dry after being pressed. In this article, you'll...

A closed ecosystem is one that is able to sustain itself. In other words, it has all the components to support life, including organisms and nutrients, and requires no outside input. Building a...

The grassland biome is mainly dominated by short and tall grass species. In addition, climate conditions are characterized by cold temperatures in the winter, moderate to hot temperatures in the...

Respiration and transpiration are two of the fundamental processes of plant life. Angiosperms, like other plants, use these two process to transfer the materials necessary for life in and out of...

While each plant is different in its ability to withstand light, all plants convert light into the energy they need to grow and develop. Ultraviolet (UV) light provides benefits to plants but also...

Invasive plants and animals are an often-talked about menace in environmental and biological news. They travel by many different methods and affect ecosystems all over the world.

Soil is a natural resource that forms the basis of our existence. Soil is made up of various elements such as minerals, dead plants and animals, along with minute pieces of rocks. The type of soil...

The genus Equisetum includes a suite of plants commonly called "horsetails" or "scouring rushes." These widely-distributed organisms are the only surviving representatives of the once-mighty class...

Do you wish to grow fantastic and beautiful hostas? These are species of lily-like plants whose origin is northeast Asia. Hostas are herbaceous plants that live for more than 2 years and grow from...

A terrarium is an example of a mini-ecosystem that is fairly simple to construct using easily obtained materials. A terrarium can be used as an educational tool to explain what materials are...

Aquatic plants have adapted beautifully to life in water while claiming some amazing qualities. They breathe, feed, reproduce and protect themselves, all while being completely submerged in water.

Plants owe their green color to chlorophyll, a chemical structure within cells that absorbs sunlight to start the photosynthetic process. This process is how plants make their food.

Duckweed is a family of plants known botanically as Lamnaceae. The floating aquatic plants are widely distributed around the world and are the smallest known flowering plant.

Murky waters, intense algal film, fish floating belly-up: In an aquatic system, these may be symptoms of excessive levels of phosphates. In its normal limited quantity, environmental phosphorus is...

In 1866, Gregor Mendel, "the father of genetics" published a paper that proposed a theory as to how certain traits are passed from parents to their children. Mendel used pea plants to test his...

Cloning is the process of creating an organism that is genetically identical to another organism. The DNA of a clone is exactly the same as the original organism; identical twins are a form of...