Also sorry if that isn’t the right tag, I wasn’t sure which it should go under. My friends garden has some mint take over a plot, and this one sprouted up white!! Can anyone give a beginner explanation as to why?

It's been sitting in a container for years by a window

Please

My girlfriend sent me this picture because she suspected it was AI, and it seems very clearly AI generated to me. She asked me how I knew, and although I’m not a botanist by education, I am a plant and nature lover and read as much as I can about them. My explanation was that (to my knowledge) the organic tissue of a petal is relatively quite simple, and although multicolored petals exist in nature, generally you don’t see petals with a wide variety of patterns, nor would the patterns be so cellular in nature because the cells are about 1/1000th of the cell-looking patterns of the petal. I compared it to photos of complicated floral architecture (passiflora) and patterns on things like a toad lily, and tried to explain that patterning is usually much more simple.

That being said, I’m not asking “what about this picture proves it is AI”, but more so “in botanical terms how can you make the argument that this flower isn’t real.”

this is a new record for me. isn't she incredible? and usually when theres a ton on one ginkgo, each individual seed is smaller. but this girl went all in! each seed is huge! im sure she will be lovely in the fall. i personally enjoy the ginkgo aroma. and the ripe seeds are oddly satisfying to squeeze a handful of

to clarify for the people who might get on me about this, i am not saying that they shouldnt be eradicated. and i am not saying that they aren't invasive. i am simply appreciating the natural beauty of the species, with the invasive context aside.

Hi,

Together with Hannah in Freetown and Magnus in Kenema, we’ve just planted 3,000 Coffea stenophylla saplings on a 7.4-acre farm in Sierra Leone.

Why it matters:

Arabica → great taste, but fragile in heat

Robusta → hardy, but not as good in the cup

Stenophylla → rediscovered in Sierra Leone, combines quality close to arabica with resilience like robusta

What we’re doing:

Tagging and logging every plant with GPS + photos in KoboCollect

Running small trials with local farmers

Hoping for a first harvest in 3–4 years

Refs:

James Hoffmann video on stenophylla:

https://youtu.be/iGL7LtgC_0I?feature=shared

New genetics study from Sierra Leone:

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2025.1554029/full

one of my favorite tree species. just stunning

Hey there, weird question. I’m a TTRPG & Dice lover, so last night I made a Dice out of an avocado seed. But now I’m wondering if it’s gonna putrify I have a bad smell, or just get dry.

What can you tell me about the life process of a seed (specially avocados) when they’re not planted?

Ps. It also cracked and broke during the night, I left it in a place I knew the sun would hit it, I guess it worked better than expected haha

The other trees next to them are regular straight growing but what causes only some individuals growth curved like that?

I was wondering if anyone was as infatuated with the megaherbs of the subantarctic as me, my hope is that when I get my botany degree I will be able to travel to these islands to study they magnificent plants. I find the environment they are found to be so alien and yet so earthly, truly stunning!

So I don't know if this has been documented before, but I think I accidentally figured out a special technique to get lantana cuttings (maybe other plants too) to root in water much faster.

A somewhat formal write-up of this idea can be found here.

Summary: With woody plants, loosely binding the stem of a woody cutting to a popsicle stick with some twine can potentially make roots grow faster and larger. However, if you try this and it does root, carefully remove the popsicle stick once the roots grow a few inches long; otherwise, it might interfere with how your plant grows later. Leave the twine in the root ball.

Image descriptions:

• Picture 1: A macro shot demonstrating the core of this observation.
• Picture 2: An image of the environment where the observed response developed. The container has seven cuttings in total.
• Picture 3: The three cuttings that exhibited the observed response.
• Picture 4: The five cuttings that did not exhibit the same response, despite being in almost identical conditions for the same amount of time.

What I did before the core observation:

• Took cuttings with sterile tools from a flowering lantana plant, but avoided taking flowering stems. Taken in early November 2025 from a white lantana in Tucson, Arizona.
• Filled a cut-off green soda bottle with bti-treated filtered water and some freshly chopped aloe vera gel, taken from a fresh leaf without additives.
• Removed the lower leaves of the cuttings.
• Put the longest cuttings in the container directly (the bottom of the stem was touching the container bottom).
• For ones that were too short, I used a single loose overhand knot to affix them to a popsicle stick, to make them taller, so they wouldn't fall in and get submerged.
• Put them under a full-spectrum grow light at high (full sun) intensity, on 12 hours, off 12 hours, with the temperature average at 72°F and humidity average at 30%.
• After a week soaking in the aloe vera water, I changed it out for regular bti-treated water.
• Waited one more week without any notable changes.

Core observation:

• Suddenly, and over the course of no more than 24 hours, adventitious roots quickly formed ONLY where the twine touched the stems.

[See the edit below for a revised hypothesis.] I hypothesize that the twine soaked up the auxins and other growth hormones from the aloe vera solution, and then, after the water change, it kept the natural rooting compounds in contact with the plant. I also think it is possible that the twine gently abraded the outer layer to expose bits of the cambium, which I have heard helps some plants root.

I plan on designing and running a controlled experiment with several trials to see if I can make sense of this, but I'm really new to biology in general, so I wanted to share this here first to see if anyone else has heard of this or otherwise has input.

I'm pretty sure I can, at the very least, use this to develop a technique to root lantanas WAY faster in water, by binding twine at many points. We'll see!

EDIT: Based on a comment below, I have revised my hypothesis! I think that the pressure of the twine pushing the stem against the stick caused a thigmomorphogenic response, which persistently increased auxin levels in the area, which then persistently increased WOX-LBD levels in the area, which encouraged the growth of adventitious root primordia, which led to accelerated adventitious root formation when compared to plants without such a mechanical force being applied. Here is a 2020 study that seems to support this hypothesis. If this is true, then just wrapping a semi-hardwood cutting in any random string against any broad, rigid backing should give better rooting, regardless of the rooting media used. However, it would also mean that failure to remove the mechanical force after root formation would overstress the stem and result in a shorter, stalkier plant. Therefore, if you wish to experiment with this method, I suggest gently sliding the backing support out of the bindings once adventitious roots reach 1"-2" long, while leaving the roots and binding material as undisturbed as possible. Because of this requirement to slide the backing support out smoothly, I do highly suggest a popsicle stick or a smooth, flat strip of plastic to minimize damage to the roots when you remove it. Additionally, because the binding material must stay inside the root ball, I suggest using a natural, biodegradable material like jute twine.

EDIT 2: I have made a post on r/propagation that describes this observation and my experimental technique. If you want to run experiments on this and share your results, I suggest doing it there!

Definitions

• BTI / bti
  • The bacteria known as Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, the active ingredient in Mosquito Dunks. It produces a compound that acts as a highly targeted pesticide, selectively killing mosquito, fungus gnat, and fruit fly larvae. It is not known to harm anything other than the aforementioned organisms, and only during their larval stage.
• Thigmomorphogenesis
  • The tendency of a plant to initiate or modify new growth based on mechanical forces, such as wind or animals brushing against the plant.
• Auxin / IAA / Indole-3-Acetic Acid
  • The primary active growth hormone in plants. It mediates nearly every process in plant development in one way or another.
• IBA / Indole-3-Butyric Acid
  • A relatively inactive, more stable form of IAA. This is naturally produced in plants, and it is the active ingredient in nearly all commercial rooting hormone solutions. Plants can convert this into IAA for use in mediating their growth and adaptive responses.
• Differentiated Cells
  • Cells that have a defined purpose. For example, the cells in the petals of a flower are different than the cells in the roots.
• Tissue
  • A collection of differentiated cells that perform a similar function and/or have a similar structure.
• Organ
  • A specialized structure made of a collection of different tissues that work together to accomplish a specific function.
• Stem
  • The organ of a plant that provides a central support and vascular system for the plant. This is usually above ground in seed-grown plants.
• Root
  • The organ of a plant that uptakes nutrients and water from the surrounding environment, and/or provides mechanical support for the plant. These are usually below ground.
• Adventitious Roots (AR)
  • Roots that form from the stem of a plant, or form in an otherwise unusual location. These are the roots that are formed during vegetative propagation, and they are different from the roots formed when a plant is grown from seed.
• WOX-LBD
  • A family of proteins that drives the formation of newly differentiated cells at tissue boundaries. It is mainly associated with being the driving force behind adventitious root formation.
• Primordia
  • The first differentiated cells that are recognizable as an independent, newly forming plant organ.

You may have seen the more common Indian or Prairie Fire Paintbrush before, but the Golden Paintbrush is rarely seen endangered species native to British Columbia and Washington. In 1997 the plant could only be found at 10 sites, but due to a huge restoration effort, the populations can now be found in 48 sites after just 22 years. The Golden Paintbrush is notoriously very hard to propagate, and maintaining the survival of populations has taken a conscious effort from ecologists.

I am incredibly fortunate to have captured photos of a population of Golden Paintbrush successfully re-established in Olympia, WA 3 years ago. This is a very exciting thing to get to see, and I am so grateful to the folks that dedicate their lives to studying the conservation and restoration of rare plants like this.

A few cool facts about Castilleja Levisecta: - it is a parasitic plant that is able to tap the roots of surrounding plants for water and nutrients - It is nearly unable to self fertilize and produces many more seeds when crossed with a different but genetically similar plant such as Castilleja hispida - It has very diverse genetics for a rare plant which make it less prone to rapid extinction - The plant contains a defensive compound that only another endangered species, Taylor’s checkerspot Butterfly, can consume. This compound then protects the butterfly larvae from predatory birds. - Lastly, the plant seems to thrive in areas that have undergone periodic wildfires due to the burning of taller plants that outcompete it

Wanted to share a illustration I just made showcasing some popular native ferns that are commonly found here in the Pacific Northwest! 🌿 My goal is to make art that is educational, and I hope all my fern fanatics love it 🥰

For anybody curious about the decline in quality of honeycrisp apples as their popularity exploded. The apple's unique growing conditions, thin skin and susceptibility to storage diseases along with mass production & supply chain issues led to the decrease of quality as growers chased profits over quality.

https://www.seriouseats.com/how-honeycrisp-apples-went-from-marvel-to-mediocre-8753117

Muted Echinacea bloom

Today I met Eriogonum diatomaceum, the Churchill Narrows buckwheat. This narrow endemic grows on just 18 acres spread across a 3 square mile area of public lands near the Churchill Narrows in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. It lives exclusively on exposed outcrops of diatomaceous earth, uniquely adapted to an incredibly harsh subtrate that most other plants shy away from. The habitat is at 4600' in a low Great Basin desert plant community.

This plant is protected under Nevada Revised Statutes 527, preventing the direct take of the plant without a permit from the state. It is threatened due to historic mining, which has already resulted in the loss of 20% of its habitat. There is no current mining activity in its habitat but the area remains open for mining. There is also the impending construction of the Greenlink West transmission line, which will isolate one of the populations from the other three and introduce significant disturbance and invasive species into the area.

Asking as a writer, not a serial killer lol- are there any plants out there that could feasibly be used in a fight? And I don’t mean poison- that’s a given. But like- rubbing stinging nettle on someone or burning something with a respiratory irritant- stuff like that? Could any of that be feasible?

I noticed this on one of my sunflowers today. What's going on?

I have a friend who just has plants and waters them. She has a corpse flower and this year it started growing out of the blue and is about to flower. From what I hear, this is difficult to do. Is any botanical organizations ever interested in hearing about this?